The STG Field Manual
by LogicalPremise
Summary: The STG Field Manual details out all aspects of the STG, from its organization and structure, to weapons, mission types, report structures and more. A free-to-use resource inspired in part by Xabiar's "XCOM Files" organizational reports (which may have been inspired by the Cerberus Files, lol) and mostly a challenge to myself to see if I can organize gud or not. Some cursing.
1. Main File

**_A/N:_** _This is almost certainly a one-shot documentation story thing. Mostly done a while back, I just finished it up because I was bored and stuck in a rut of what to write for the next chapter._

* * *

"STG Master, I have the telemetry from the cell doing recovery on the Delsa operation." The junior agent's voice still had the more reedy registers of youth than the blandness of age, but was otherwise pleasant. The fact that Junior Agent Sasan was one of six females in the STG was merely a testament to her mental skill at organization.

The STG Master tapped the control on the chair. "Thank you, Sasan. Have the Executives assemble and meet me in my office in twenty minutes. Additionally, Korals finally finished his updates to the Field Manual. Push it out to all non-flash clone operatives by midsun."

"At once, STG Master." She clicked off the intercom, and he leaned back in his comfortable chair.

Despite being in some ways the most powerful salarian alive, the STG Master was in many ways a prisoner and slave. An identity had been destroyed and erased from the fragmented memories of yesteryear. The body that answered to the Master's mind was so neutered, cybernetically enhanced and altered that the Master did not know - and could not remember - what sex he or she was originally. There was a mental tendency to think of one's self as her, so she assumed she had been female.

Perhaps that was why more females were in the STG now than in the past two centuries.

Her power was titanic - near onto half a million STG Agents answered to her and her alone. An entire fleet of ships, thousands of vehicles, billions of credits, entire planets and moons were hers to command.

She was tracked and traced by six different systems, had two bombs in her head, and couldn't even remember her name. She had a palatial home and an office that often made dalatrasses envious, and yet could not mingle with anyone. She would never have children, never breed, never pass a name down to enhance a Family's glory.

For all her power, she noted as the ngagi-wood doors to her office opened to admit the Executives, she was less free than the lowly Junior Agent. She exhaled slowly, feeling stale air in cybernetic lungs whistle past equally false lips under her metallic face-mask, and inclined her head.

"Let us discuss the tasks before us today."

* * *

 **STG Field Manual**

If you are reading this, you have completed basic training to become a part of the shield of the salarian people, the Special Tasks Group. (Or you are a really good hacker, in which case, you might as well enjoy your victory before the Shieldbreakers find you.)

This manual is a guide and a reference. Quicklinks exist in the text that are touch sensitive, linking you to pertinent sub-files. If you have questions or concerns, your Field Agent, instructor, or guide will be able to answer them best.

The purpose of this manual is to cover the organization, goals, measures, and focus of the Special Tasks Group, the reporting you are expected to produce, and a quick overview of important personnel and cells. It is not a guide on how to do your job. If you are an idiot enough to need a book to tell you how to spy, you will end up dead (or worse) in short order.

Despite what you might think, this field manual is protected by several security measures preventing it being downloaded or hacked. It is also not recommended you try shifting it from UV display or your omni-tool will helpfully blow up.

 **You are expected to know everything in this manual by the time you reach an active Cell.** Ignorance is not allowed.

This guide will not belabor the origins of the STG. We will not waste time on credos, slogans, pithy statements of 'intent' and we will certainly not engage in garbage such as ideology. You are expected to be efficient, to be cautious, to be prepared for the worst, and to strive to excel at whatever task you are issue. Failure is not merely discrediting - we are the line upon which our people will stand and rise, or fall and be mercilessly butchered.

It is, not to engage in melodrama, upon your back and spine to carry the salarians into the future.

* * *

 **Organization and Structures**

The Special Tasks Group is the organization dedicated to ensuring the salarian people remain in the forefront of any threat by way of knowledge, infiltration, and assessment.

Unlike most special operational groups or intelligence organs, the STG is not controlled directly by any state organ. All STG units and cells answer only to the STG Master. It is at the Master's discretion to align units with Citadel C-SEC and Special Response, requests from the SIX or the Salarian Union, or requests from the League of Zero.

 _Under no circumstances are any STG operatives to conduct any operation at the order of external parties without STG Master authorization._

The STG does not take 'sides'. We support the SIX and the Union because that is our tasking, but we are also prepared to destroy them if they become a threat to salarian survival. We cooperate with the LoZ because that is the wish of the SIX and because conflict serves no purpose at this time, but we are prepared to work against them if their actions become unmanageable.

For all intents and purposes, the STG is a self-contained organization. We have facilities that produce our gear, food, medical supplies, and cloned recruits. We have dedicated fleet and ground assets, internalized training facilities, and everything required to ensure the cohesion of the STG does not suffer due to political infighting, military action, or unforeseen natural disasters.

The highest operating level of the STG is held by the STG Master. The Master's identity, gender, nation of origin, name, and all other information is deleted upon selection. The Master reports to the SIX and to the League.

The STG Master is assisted by a trio of Executive Agents, each of which is chosen from Master Agents via a process of scoring, assessment and demonstration of aptitude. The Master and the Executive Agents all undergo complete cybernetic conversion that removes any hint of their identity and gender. When the STG Master dies, the senior most Executive Agent is tapped to ascend to be the new Master, while a replacement Executive Agent is recruited and converted.

The Executive Agents do not have any oversight or command authority but are often utilized as support by the STG Master or are tasked with directing and organizing polling done by the Circle of Decision.

All STG units are grouped into Operational Tasking Assignments (OTA) at the highest level. Each OTA has one Administrator who reports directly to the STG Master. Administrators are all Master Agents and are selected based on efficiency from Operational Division heads. Administrators not only direct and control their OTA but assemble in the Circle of Decision, which determines detailed operational tasks based on the high-level goals of the STG Master. Each OTA usually is either assigned to a specialty (asari commercial intelligence, anti-pirate operations, etc) or to a specific target (Cerberus, Broker, Eclipse, etc). There are currently a total of one hundred and sixteen OTA's in operation.

Each OTA is comprised of between five and ten Operational Divisions (OD). An Operational Division is lead by a Master Field Agent and a Master Agent. The former provides all day-to-day operational management leadership tasks and coordinates with the STG Master. The Master Agent determines tasking for units and debriefs agents.

Each OD is identical, comprised of five Operational Cells, five Investigative Cells, two War Specialist cells, two Heavy Combat Cells, one Support Cell, and a single Specialist Cell.

All cells share an identical layout (with the exception of Support Cells). A Cell is lead by a Senior Agent and is comprised of three ten-person Teams, each lead by a single Field Agent and made up of Agents and Junior Agents. Support Cells are also comprised of thirty Support Agents, but is lead by a qualified Field Agent.

The team is the lowest formal organizational group – some Field Agents make 'sub-teams' with one Agent in charge of the Junior Agents, but this is optional.

* * *

 **Cell Types**

Operational cells conduct counter-measure and counter-intelligence work within the Union. For cells assigned outside the Union they focus primarily on direct operations to thwart alien intelligence organs.

Cells of this nature are comprised of two teams of Operations agents and one team of Intelligence Agents.

Investigative Cells are usually focused on direct infiltration and penetration of alien nations. For cells inside the Union, they are focused on internal threats (Lythari, Fhanrism , Black Rim Free Sexuality movement, etc). Investigative cells are usually made up of two teams of Investigative Agents and a mixed-response team of War Specialist and Specialist Technical agents.

War Specialist Cells are used as primary combatants and rescue elements, mostly in support of deployed Investigative Cells but also as strikeforces on their own. Given the diverse nature of War Specialists, the three teams can vary in composition. Most have one full team of War Specialists, a mixed cell of War Specs, Medical, and Technical Agents, and a heavy combat cell of Shieldbreakers, Heavy Combat Specs, and FCA Combat Agents.

Heavy Combat Cells are rarely deployed outside of direct assault. While War Specialist Cells are designed to support operations in the field, Heavy Combat cells are only used at the discretion of a Master Field Agent and are usually a response to hostile contact. All cells are identical – one cell of War Specialists, one cell of FCA Combat agents, and a mixed cell of Shieldbreakers, Medical agents, and Null Agents.

Specialist Cells are usually formulated based on the task the OTA is assigned to, and thus can vary wildly. For the most part, however, such cells contain limited use assets – Transcendental Assets, Science Agents, and Shieldbreakers. Tasking for such cells varies almost as wildly as their composition, depending heavily on both location and function.

Silent Step: On occasion, we are faced with threats of a technological or research based nature that present a danger to the Salarian Union on multiple levels – economic, disruption of our own scientific leadership, even cultural or memetic due to influence in our society due to the penetration of such technology. As threats of this nature are not a clean delineation that can be easily typified and responded to, a special cell type is custom fitted to the task. In honor of the heroes of old who kept the Salarian people safe, these are known as Silent Step teams. Each team is lead by a Master Agent, and composition varies by the task, but includes almost every kind of agent we have, as well as on occasion civilian or military specialists. The Silent Step agents are deniable assets – by agreeing to join the team, they undergo the same deidentification and cybernetic process as Executives and the STG Master undergo. Silent Step teams are implanted with upgraded Protocol Nineteen remote detonation devices and plasma charges to ensure they cannot be captured or interrogated.

* * *

 **Operatives**

The STG is comprised of operatives – trained salarians focused on specific endeavors as part of a larger operational ideal. As such, there are levels of both training and responsibility that define what agents perform what tasks.

 _Agent Grades_

There are two 'grades' of agent: natural born agents and clone-typed agents. For the purposes of the STG, clone-typed agents also come in two grades: FTL accelerated clonal developed and flash-cloned. Finally, all Transcendental assets are specially modified and bred.

Flash-cloned agents (FCA) are created from a template blank using conventional rapid-cloning techniques augmented by technology we have acquired from various sources. While conventional flash clones have an operational span of anywhere from two percent to four percent of the mean lifespan of the species being cloned, we have increased this to almost eleven percent, meaning flash cloned agents have roughly four years of operational lifespan.

FCA are given hyper-hypnotic programming packages and are deployed primarily as specialist combat agents attached to Heavy Combat Cells. These packages include modifications to psychology to enjoy combat, an implanted false history designed to nurture additional devotion to the STG and the salarian people, and modifications to severely increase shock resistance, bravery and pain suppression.

For obvious reasons, FCA's are not allowed access to this Field Manual (they have their own version) and should not be informed of their status. They are disposable combat assets by design, but they should not be abused or wasted.

Oversight of the FCA program is controlled by the STG Master in conjunction with three FCA units who are informed of the truth and make modifications and suggestions to the program in the name of both celerity of function and ensuring there is no abuse of FCA.

FTL accelerated clonal agents (FAC) are clone-typed beings created in creches under constant FTL bubble acceleration to reduce the time it takes for the being to come to functional maturity. As with all full-clonal beings growth rates are the same as a natural-hatched salarian, and even with FTL acceleration a new agent requires six years to complete (to age nine). As with FCAs, FAC are given a hyper-hypnotically programmed background history.

Transcendental assets are hatched naturally from modified eggs in special creches. They are trained from birth in specialist facilities and are typically outside of any ranking or organizational system.

 _Operative Levels_ **  
**

All STG agents are given assessment testing upon entry – be that enlistment for natural-hatched citizens, or cloning completion and education resolution for clone-typed agents.

Salarian law restricts natural citizens from joining the STG until they are at least nine years old. For FAC agents, they are cloned up to age nine. For FCA agents, given their restricted lifespan, they are cloned at age fifteen. Transcendentals start training at age three but are moved into a transcendental asset state at age nine as well.

The complete career path of an STG agent is as follows:

Trainee

Support / Qualified

Junior Agent

Agent

Field Agent

Senior Agent / Senior Specialist

Master Agent

Master Field Agent / Administrator / Executive

STG Master Agent

All non-FCA agents are inducted as Trainees. They undergo a six month training and hyper-hypnotic imprinting course covering STG regulations, basic first aid, basic weapons, navigation, law, and at least two alien languages. All trainees are given proficiency and retention testing at the end of the six month period.

Those who fail the testing are moved into Support Agent status and ranked as Support Agents. These go through another six month course in various specialties and, barring something extraordinary, will remain support agents and unranked for the rest of their career.

Those who pass the testing are given a provisional status of 'Qualified' and issued a basic equipment package. Testing determines if they are moved into combat or non-combat positions. For six months they are given additional testing, training and qualification runs until they meet the minimum requirements and are promoted to junior agents.

Junior agents are expected to learn from their superiors and support cells as a whole. Junior agents are given barracks on STG facilities and do not deploy unless in active duty. When not actively deployed junior agents are expected to be training, qualifying for rank, or engaged in learning. After two years as a junior agent with no disqualifying errors, they may test for full specialization and promotion to Agent.

Agents are allowed more freedom than JA's and are not restricted to base: they may move out, own property, and if selected by their family mate. (STG agents engaged in yindo based activities are to be executed.) Agents are moved into a speciality (intelligence, operations, medical, etc) at this rank.

Field Agents are promoted from the top ten percent of all agents every third year, based on a mix of performance metrics, qualification, testing and personal initiative. Field Agents are the leaders of most Teams inside a Cell, the first rank at which they are expected to begin to demonstrate leadership qualities. Field Agents who excel at leadership and cohesion are promoted to Senior Agent and given command of an entire Cell. Those who demonstrate no leadership capabilities but excel in all other areas are promoted to Senior Specialist, which pays more and has more perks but is functionally identical to Field Agent Rank.

Senior Agents are promoted as needed, based on Cells being created. Most Senior Agents are in their twenties before promotion, and most Senior Agents are therefore in their physical prime at this point. Senior Agents are expected to being learning additional specializations at this rank, as well as qualifications in non-combat support skills (hacking, medical, scientific) on a basic level. For those who did not demonstrate leadership ability, Senior Specialists are expected to focus instead on their own given specialty to the exclusion of all others.

Master Agents are chosen from the ranks of Senior Agents over the age of twenty five, when a vacancy occurs or a new OD is created. Senior Agents must undergo a grueling eight-month preparation course to even qualify for this promotion, and once promoted are given extensive and exhaustive profiling and testing to ensure outstanding performance. Master Agents are given almost complete freedom of action in terms of how they choose to deploy their OD, and are usually highly skilled at multiple tasks too time-consuming for lesser agents to study, such as differential xenolinguistics or mass effect theory.

Master Field Agents are promoted from the Master Agent in an OD when the previous one in charge of an OD dies or retires. They are given an five-month long training class they are expected to complete alongside the tasks required of an MFA. Promotion to MFA is usually the end of an Agent's career – most MFA's retire at thirty or so.

Administrators are chosen as needed when new OTA's are created or an existing Administrator dies. They are not promoted from MFAs given the likelyhood that an MFA will be pushing thirty five or older already. Administrators are never forward deployed and are strictly non-combat personnel, expected to serve until either death or disability from age. As such, they are extremely well paid and are afforded direct access to the SIX when required. Administrators constantly train and learn about the focus of their OTA.

Executive Agents are, like Administrators, chosen from the ranks of Master Agents. Unlike Administrators, however, this promotion is involuntary : agents who are chosen will have their identity erased and are usually removed from service by faking their death in operations conducted by the LoZ. As such Executive Agents are often chosen from the ranks of FAC agents and groomed from birth to hold such positions, in conjunction with monitoring. Executive Agents sole purpose is to be a replacement pool for the STG Master – as such they are briefed in on everything the STG Master knows and in some cases are even deployed to pretend they are the STG Master.

You have no doubt concluded that, once one is a full Agent, the higher you rise in the service of the STG the more freedom you have, but at the highest levels you have almost none. The STG is a sacrifice for the salarian people – a respected one, but a sacrifice nonetheless. Those of you who are unwilling to give everything should therefore not take the Senior Agent Promotion Preparatory examination, as once you are a Master Agent you could be chosen for the ranks of the Administrators or Executive Agents.

* * *

 **Operative Typing**

There are a great many tasks undertaken by the STG, each of which often requires a myriad of talents to complete to suitable levels. As a result, the STG fields many types of operatives.

 _Support Agents:_ Older agents no longer fit for open deployment, agents trained in support functions and sub-optimal performance clone agents are all designated as Support Agents. These are non-combat and non-deployment agents that perform the bulk of tasks best defined as logistical or support in nature : setting up and operating bases and communications equipment, procurement, piloting ships and/or ground vehicles, repairs, non-medical support functions, and the like. Support agents are typically considered non-combatants and as such are only lightly armed.

 _Operations Agents:_ The bulk of STG forward cells are comprised of the general agent. Agents are cross-trained in hacking, sniping, info-war operation, xenocultural studies, alien language, and financial tracking. Almost all STG agents will begin their career in this field. While combat is not the specialization of this agent type, they are trained to engage in combat if required.

 _Intelligence Agents:_ Agents who focus and excel in pure information gathering are given this tasking. Training and focus includes heavier use of hacking, infowar and cultural training and the pursuit of alien language skills. Intelligence operatives are not expected (nor equipped) to engage in combat.

 _War Specialist Agents:_ Agents focused on the protection of other assets during operations, or those dispatched to conduct deniable military strike functions based on STG data. War Specialists are heavily cross-trained in multiple combat specialties along with some generalist training in one field (medical, technical, hacking, infowar, etc). While certainly not as skilled in infiltration as intelligence types, nor as flexible as operational agents, War Specs have a higher survival rate when operating in hostile territory.

 _Specialist Science Agents:_ Agents with a direct focus on a field of scientific study. Sub-ratings include astronomy, chemical, biological, metallurgic, cybernetic, geologic and field science. Specialist agents are not trained or equipped for combat and should always be accompanied by protective assets and / or STG War Specs.

 _Specialist Medical Agents:_ Agents who are medically trained personnel – this can include combat medics, surgeons, cybernetic doctors, neuropathic programmers, and all other medical fields. Medical agents are, unlike Science Agents, trained for combat and field triage. Junior personnel tend to be field medics, gaining knowledge and becoming more specialized with seniority.

 _Specialist Shieldbreaker Assets:_ all Shieldbreakers are STG agents who have suffered critical level bodily damage – either via combat or by design. Shieldbreakers have all limbs removed and are cybernetically wired into the Shieldbreaker Combat Suit. Technically, the Shieldbreaker Corps is not a formal part of the STG – in actuality, given that all Shieldbreakers are STG Agents, this is a polite fiction. That being said, the conversion process tends to make Shieldbreakers disdainful of the more nuanced aspects of our work – they are cold, blunt and have a tendency towards utter neutrality.

 _Specialist Technical Agents:_ Similar to Science Agents, technical agents are non-combat personnel who focus on highly technical concepts or jobs. Sub-ratings include hacking, info-war, memetic programming, omnitech, FTL technology, and vehicle theory. Technical agents create our weapons and armor, operate our communications, and focus on studying alien technological advances in conjuction with the Science Agents. They are not trained for combat and require escort when forward deployed.

 _Heavy Combat Specification Agents:_ War Specialists who are not satisfied with defensive operations (translation: Solus clan lunatics) often move into the Heavy Combat Specification. Agents in this role are given extensive cybernetic upgrades, heavy armor, and a staggering array of weapons and demolitions equipment. While War Specs are often cross-trained in multiple fields, HCS Agents focus on one field – killing. Deployed when we absolutely have to down a target, these agents are not recommended for more delicate operations. Or anything requiring subtlety. Occasionally, groups of FCAs are boosted in physical spec to the point they can be deployed as HCS Agents for large scale military operations.

 _STG Transcendental Assets_ : Biotic specialists, Transcendentals are the most mission-critical and sensitive of STG forces. Our biotics are unlike that of other races – we focus on speed, reactions and flexibility. Transcendentals are deployed only as needed and are to be given the very highest level of protection – we can replace a Senior Agent, or an STG Master, more easily than a Transcendental. Due to the process that creates such agents, few of them live past thirty five – and eight years of their lives are lost to training in biotics, giving them a limited deployment span.

 _FCA Combat Agents:_ Flash clones are assigned this combat role if they are typed as heavy combatants. Attritional assets, to be used as needed to support more critical personnel or slow pursuit of hostile elements.

 _Null Agent:_ The details of this program are limited to the highest levels. All you, as an agent, need to know is that the League of Zero will occasionally actively field agents alongside an STG team. They are all called Null Agents and are not to appear in any report, recording, or other format that could ever possibly fall into alien hands.

* * *

 **Equipment and Loadout**

In general terms, all STG agents have the same basic loadout: sidearm, primary weapon, grenades, and support items.

In specific terms, STG agents above the rank of Junior Agent are given wide discretion to pick their own armaments and customization. That being said, it is expected that most will adhere to the guidelines and recommendations of what to use.

The Scorpion Blast Pistol is the default sidearm of all STG personnel, even non-combat ones. This fires delayed-blast explosive squash-head munitions at ranges of up to sixty-five meters. Alternative fire mode results in a proximity-explosive deployable 'mine' mode. The Scorpion should be used to break enemy charges, for cover denial and to stagger units into the line of fire of other enemies. Defensively, it can be used not only for direct damage and to deny access points but to trigger environmental damage or hazards.

The Scorpion is heavy and has limited omnigel to form rounds with. The mass rail firing the rounds is weaker than a normal pistol and the weapon cannot be juryrigged. Modifications to increase blast power are authorized but not recommended.

The other authorized sidearm of the STG is the Solus Needler. This weapon is never sold on the open market and is limited to War Specialists. It fires a cloud of disruptor-enhanced saboting flechettes at a high velocity in a tight spread, with a range of twenty meters. Against any unarmored targets this is lethal, even against krogan, vorcha and batarians with headshots. Light and medium armor does not stop the rounds and it will usually kill non-krogan with two or three shots. Heavier targets, mechs and warsuits have enough armor to absorb the damage but it will weaken all known forms of non-Silaris armor, even laser steel. The weapon has a very short range and does not do much damage to biotic barriers or kinetic shields, so a shield-stripping weapon is required for full utility.

Primary weapons depend on focus. The Rapier and Venom shotguns are the weapon used by most combat forces in close quarters, using unconventional ammo types to stymie and kill enemy combatants. The Cobra Blast Rifle is recommended in all other situations.

All STG agents are expected to carry an eight-grenade loadout with at least two smoke grenades. Grenades above this are best carried on the standard combat harness (the enhanced shield harness also has a pouch for grenades).

Support equipment includes omniblades, omni-shields, deployable kinetic barriers, drone deployment racks, and tripod-mount mobile BRKR crew-served weapons. These are granted on as as-needed basis with approval from your divisional Master Agent. Heavier or more destructive weapons require Master Field Agent approval, including backpack nuclear devices, eezo-air-explosives, and black nano systems.

Each Cell will have a discretionary budget for additional support supplies. This is augmented by designated supply packs (medical gear, spy beams, taps, drones, disguise gear, biomedical augments and the like) as well as packages of gear assigned to the Cell upon mission assignment. It is expected that the Cell deploy its limited assets in such a way to allow for recovery – captured equipment can lead back to STG support groups or be used to frame us for acts we did not commit.

* * *

 **Goals and Directives**

The Special Tasks Group is the supra-national defense espionage and tasking organization defined by the Mutality Agreement Accord of Dalatrass Shiron and the Framework.

The STG is expected to uphold the following mission goals. Each goal is of increasing importance.

Goal One: To prevent the destruction of salarian culture as a distinct ethnoracial grouping by way of cultural, societal, alien immigrant or infomemetic penetration.

Goal Two: To identify valuable information that can be used to support the growth and prosperity of the salarian people, including but not limited to information that will reduce the growth and prosperity of aliens.

Goal Three: To maintain stable societal control of the Salarian Union via the rule of the SIX as a counter-measure to the manipulations of the Thirty. In pursuit of this, to limit and eventually remove variant social elements such as the Lythari Movement.

Goal Four: To ascertain, describe and catalog all actors of note that are a threat to the existence of the STG's ability to operate as an integral component of the Salarian Union. In pursuit of this, when possible, the destruction or destabilization of such actors of note.

Goal Five: To destabilize and weaken the Asari Republic to the point where the Salarian Union is the premiere and undisputed controlling power in the galaxy.

Goal Six: To reduce the power, ability and penetration of all non-salarian intelligence organs.

Goal Seven: The containment, identification, deflection or destruction of all external threats to the survival of the Salarian people, STG itself, the SIX, the Salarian Union, the Citadel Accords, and galactic stability in that order of importance.

In the pursuit of the above, there are a multitude of standing orders and operational guides. While these vary from cell to cell and operation to operation, a handful are in effect **at all times** for all STG personnel.

Protocol Six: Vigilance – Identification, assessment and imprisonment of all Lythari-identified individuals who refuse to leave salarian society. (Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis, as with Wirtu Gana, but should be excluded from STG Command Decisions). This does _not_ imply nor authorize that salarians who have removed themselves from salarian space and society (such as Mantur Dasso or Senior Agent Mordin Solus) should be pursued or harassed.

Protocol Eleven: Counterwatch – preparation of tasks and events in the case that the SIX become a liability to salarian survival. Coordination with League of Zero to remove them and replace them with more tractable figures for leadership.

Protocol Nineteen: Prudence – detonation of internal ocular flash-bang devices and automated wipe of any onboard grayboxes when agents are likely to be captured and interrogated.

Protocol Twenty: Defiance – triggering of onboard power sources to scuttle any STG vessels in imminent threat of being boarded and captured.

Protocol Twenty-Nine: Social Preservation – destruction of groups, political elements and support for yindo-based families and the pursuit of deviant social structures.

Protocol Fifty-Four: Obedience – Blanket authorization to perform any action, regardless of conflict with Citadel or local laws, in the event that the STG Master and the SIX are slain and there is no overarching command profile, to ensure the safety of the salarian people.

Protocol Sixty-Six : Revenge – authorization of biological, nanological or other agents or delivery systems in the event that STG agents survive complete destruction of Salarian Union. The goal is to genocide the attacking race or races and provide cover for any salarian survivors to regroup.

* * *

 **Reporting and Analysis**

 _STG Report Structure, Types, and Classifications_

The Special Tasks Group is not merely the first and last line of defense of the Salarian Union, nor is it the unseen hand of the Council. We are also the method by which risk, danger, and opportunity are assessed and dangers or allies evaluated.

In the pursuit of achieving STG Goal Seven (threat containment / deflection), the Threats branch of the STG is constantly pursuing informational leads and data on known possible dangers to the Salarian Union, be that insurgents, dissidents, terrorist groups, religious fanatics, mega-corporate structures, or singular and dangerous entities.

There are three main tools used to describe these threats: STG Investigative Reports, STG Threat Assessments, and STG Incident Reports.

As a junior agent or agent, you are not expected to write up such reports – your Field Agent or above will usually do that. That being said, there may be times where your team leader is incapacitated, dead, or otherwise unable to provide such a write up, and you will be tasked with performing such.

STG reports of any kind are not directly seen by the SIX, only the STG Master. Unless otherwise stated, reports should follow the outlines detailed below, but aside from that there is no requirement for formality. The STG Master feels that reports that concentrate on tone more than content sheer valuable context away from said report.

That being said, since the STG Master sometimes just forwards the whole thing to the SIX, any jokes had better be funny if you include such.

All STG reports are filed using VisualQuivertalk format (the 4.42 version if at all possible, 4.6 is a bug-ridden mess) and thus will not include rich data types (images, haptics, recordings etc) in the text. All such attachments will be rendered as encrypted sub-files with the entirety of the report converted to STG Technical Cant Six as the primary private key and your cell identifier as the public key.

The goal of reports are threefold.

First : they provide a baseline of information on elements of alien society that need oversight and preparation. The alien is always alien. Assumptions made on the basis of what might be normal to a salarian is often invalid when it comes to alien actions, reactions, or motives. Aside from the asari few races fall into neatly defined swamps for us to muck through, despite the always illogical allure of stereotyping and racism. In this fashion reports strive to cut through our misunderstandings where possible.

Second: by reviewing documentation after conflicts or in after-action reporting, we can identify and fix holes or weaknesses in said preparation. Many STG operations fail. Some fail completely. Failure is not a negative, it is merely a binary value that should be approached in such a way that one still obtains something of use from a failure rather than merely corpses. Thus, report review (especially Incident Reports) often allow us the luxury of saelhawk-keen eyesight when looking backwards over operations that went badly or assessments that were completely out of band with reality.

Third: they provide clear outlines of what threats need to be dealt with immediately and which can be allowed to lay fallow for the moment. While the salarian people (and by extension our Union) are very powerful and influential in both the Council and wider galactic arenas, the STG cannot afford to deceive itself. For every Eni Galsha or Shift there are a dozen ugly and nearly unkillable threats in the hands of other races. We seek to make the impossible merely unlikely through knowledge and understanding.

* * *

 **Tiers of Threat**

There are several methods of subdivided classification for most reports – security level, the threat level of an individual or group, the sensitivities of the political implications of their removal, etc. These are all summated by four large tiers of threats : _Linear, Intangible, Ramifications_ and _Ideological_.

While these tiers are rarely if ever actually directly mentioned in the reports, comprehension of their return on investment of STG time, personnel and resources is critical in achieving effective force utilization. Despite the use of flash-cloned agents, chipped subvertees and even external mercenary assets the STG is spread more thinly today than at any other time in our history.

We are tracking (as of the writing of this document) over _thirteen million threat entities_ and the number is rising daily. Priority classification is, thus, not merely pro forma paperwork shuffling, but vital to determinations of what agents to send and when to merely watch situations unfold.

The lowest kinds of threats are linear ones – those which only threaten in a single area or from a single source of power, easily countered or prepared for. Most purely military threats and small to mid-size groups fall into this group. Threats of this level are unique in that they rarely become problematic without provocation. Our reports, where possible, should focus on preventing them from becoming problematic rather than neutralization – there are simply too many for removal to be feasible.

Intangible threats are those that impact the Union without direct contact or confrontation – economic, political and intelligence based threats usually fall into this category. Threats of this nature require constant monitoring and can grow to be much larger hornaches at any time. Reporting on these threats must perforce include detailed analysis of long-term ramifications as well as the significance of such if the topic is obscure, as well as methods to counter it.

Ramifications threats are those derived from the results of technological, biotic or nanonic research and development, or other disruptive techniques. These are some of the gravest possible threats to salarian supremacy and safety, but (as the title suggests) they can be deflected or disarmed given they take a great deal of time to come to fruition. Most reporting on these threats should therefore focus on exactly how to deflect the danger or even take advantage of the technological disruption.

Finally, ideological threats are disruptive elements or movements within the salarian race or government. Counterwatch, the League of Zero, the Lythari weaklings, and the Black Rim Free Sexuality movement are all under constant watch. Threats of this nature not only risk the survival of our people but the ability of the STG to safeguard them.

As a general rule, STG field teams (aka, most cells) deal with intangible threats. Heavy combat teams deal with linear threats. STG Silent Step cells deal with ramification-level threats and the STG Master details out specially built war specs or other units to deal with ideological threats.

The scale of the threat is not usually related to its power – the High Solarch of the Temple of Athame has a Black-Collapse Nine rating for her threat level, but the tier of her threat is mostly linear. A weak political figure who has begun a movement that embraces Fhanrism (rejection of technology, a movement most races have) is perhaps only a Sunlight-level threat in terms of danger but if successful would be an ideological nightmare.

The intersection of power and scale can be a complicated one to determine. In short, however, assume that ideological and ramification-level threats are the very worst dangers to our people and act accordingly.

* * *

 **Classification**

STG reports are classified in terms of security level on a seven tiered system. The point of this system is to determine the encryption level of such reports, as well as their clearance to be viewed by the SIX, the Wheel Mystics, or the Union. In some (rare) cases, reports will be reformatted to be viewed by the Citadel Counsel or alien militaries.

A point of caution: the higher classifications, especially Dashan-Black and Salarais-White, have extensive and exhaustive requirements for both transmission and access. Notably, agents who do not possess a 14.0 score or greater on the Ergii-Hanthus Representative Scale will be chemically mind-wiped after submitting such a report. This is due to the fact that the mere idea we can capture detailed intelligence of this nature would undoubtedly result in open war.

 _Salarais-White_ : the very highest and rarest classification, this should only be used in the rare cases where the contents (or existence) of an STG report would result in calamitous political or intelligence fallout. The SIX, the Council of Matriarchs, the Council of Woe, the High Lords of Sol, and the League of Zero are the five organizations with such files. Uressa T'Shora and Delanyder the Indulgent have separate files of this classification, and some aspects of the Batarian Emperor's file and the file for Maxwell Manswell also apply. A warning: even knowledge of _who_ the files are on is technically Virshan-Orange.

 _Dashan-Black:_ Files that are of the highest security clearance, which would reveal critical methods and vitally important sources if revealed. All Spectres, most heads of government, and figures or groups of galaxy-wide impact should be classified at this level.

 _Virshan-Orange:_ Commonly used methods and/or specific sources could be revealed if this fell into the wrong hands. Severe threats are usually cataloged at this level, and this is the level for most military or intelligence writeups.

 _Dethan-Blue:_ The primary classification level for most intelligence write ups on political or economic figures of note. There is little chance of revealing methods here, although low-level sources or vulnerabilities in alien encryption could be revealed.

 _Choram-Green:_ The primary classification level for most internal STG documentation. While these files are, in and of themselves, not usually capable of revealing sources or methods, a large enough cross section of such files could provide useful methodologies to thwart STG actions.

 _Ulaman-Brown:_ A specific sub-rating used for internal STG documents regarding the Makana Project. Please note this classification should not be actually designated in the file structure, unlike all others. Additional information on the exact nature of the Makana Project is Dashan-Black.

 _SPECIAL-ZEROPOINT:_ ZEROPOINT classification is restricted to reports utilizing sources in the League of Zero. All ZEROPOINT documentation should be transmitted using highest and strongest encryption along hardened networks only, and then all physical copies and transmission equipment destroyed. Use of Class B amnesics and/or chemical mind wipes are mandatory.

* * *

 **Threat Levels**

While not directly tied to classification, threat levels are a critical piece of any report submission. There is often confusion between the threat tier and the threat level, an unfortunate casualty of inarticulate cant process.

The difference is simple: the tier indicates how _far-reaching_ the item is. The scale defines how _dangerous_ the threat is. The STG defines threats as anything (person, group, philosophical or religious belief, technology, or item) that has the capacity to inflict harm on the SIX, the Union, or salarian well being.

The threat scale starts at Sunlight and proceeds through Black Collapse.

Sunlight 1-9: Harmless to mostly harmless. Examples include corruptions of salarian culture by asari and Lythari 'culture'. At this level, most reports are little more than references. In generalist terms, Sunlight level threats are only really dangerous if the STG suddenly becomes completely incompetent or ignore the threat for years.

Sieltar 1-9: Low-scale threat to individuals. Examples include small-scale criminal groups or racist organizations of non-militant stances, or individuals who can sway salarians away from the Union in large numbers. Recommend observation.

Renthar 1-9: Medium-scale threat to individuals or low-scale threat to colonies. Can include slaver organizations and the like. Recommend preventative action.

Reach 1-9: Medium scale scientific threats – specifically research that is a detriment to the Union. Recommend sabotage.

Red Collapse 1-9: Serious threats to the Salarian Union, with capabilities less than that of a standard STG strike team. If action must be taken, recommend full pre-emptive action (assassination or infiltration) and if possible direct removal.

Black Collapse 1-9: Existential threats to the existence of the salarian race as a whole if utilized against us. Note that **all** beings or groups rated Black Collapse anything are _beyond the capabilities of a standard STG field or strike team to deal with._

Black-Collapse Nine, in particular, is a threat that we have currently not devised any possible method to stop. BCN ratings are extremely rare – less than twenty beings in the entire galaxy have this rating, most of them super-powerful biotics, experimental cyborgs, or anomalous beings such as Delan and the Batarian Emperor.

* * *

 **STG File Structure – Incident File**

Incidents are groups of actions that severely (whether positive or negative) affect galactic balance and, by extension, the political and economic health of the Salarian Union. Most incidents star off small and build to a giant mess in short order, which the STG is often called upon to fix as if we were ancient shamanic magicians.

Incidents have their own file type for a single reason: reviewing the situation allows us to identify where we could have (or should have) intervened to head off such drastic shifts in power. In the Samclao Incident, if we had assassinated the turian ambassador to the elcor, we would have prevented the creation of the turian ion-bombardment system currently being tested by the Palavanus, a system that can most likely make the bulk of our naval tactics risky.

Likewise, if we had paid closer attention to the antics of Benezia and Saren prior to the Benezia Incident, we would not have been in the unpleasant situation of requiring a military grunt with a penchant for appalling violence to save the galaxy.

This cannot be overstated: _**every incident report is an example of where the STG has failed its most basic task.**_ We review carefully not only to prevent such failures in the future but to follow up on every possible lead just in case the threat is not truly passed.

Roughly 35% of the time, we find additional threats or problems based on such reviews.

All reports follow the same basic structure:

 _A condensed timeline of the Incident, from inception to conclusion, usually accompanied with several sub-files to clarify minutiae._

 _A summary of participating parties, including links to the pertinent STG Investigative Report if one exists._

 _An inclusive profile write-ups of the principle actors, with an assessment of why things occurred in the fashion they did._

 _Projected, attributed goals and likely outcomes._

A root cause analysis, derived action plan , and summaries of costs (financial, casualty, investment, etc) are also commonly included.

Reports are reviewed by the STG Master and then presented to the SIX (and on occasion, other elements of government, such as the RRC or even the League) and then the Master will make personal observations.

For the most part the reports should follow the outline provided in your omni-tool as closely as possible.

* * *

 **STG File Structure – Investigative File**

As noted earlier in this text, the Investigative File focuses on a single being – usually military figures, but on very rare occasions political figures with vast military or combat power will be listed.

Investigative Files are only done on individuals who have a threat capacity that is a severe danger to STG forces if they are hostile. Furthermore, we only produce an STG file on targets we _actually intend to act against._ We do not have an STG file on Edat Kurass because he is ancient and barely capable of movement, much less combat. That does not mean his Circle of the Fallen is not dangerous – it means the Shifter himself is not going to be _a threat in direct conflict_ and, given his cooperation, we have no reason to want to kill him.

At the same time, we have a file on Maxwell Manswell, who is even more physically incapacitated than Edat Kurass, because it's very likely at some point we're going to need to kill him before he does something dreadfully stupid.

This cannot be overstated: _**any being who has an STG Investigative Report is very likely not defeatable by anything aside from a heavy strike team, and some are beyond even that level of power.**_ You will routinely see suggestions of the use of Shieldbreaker, anti-mech, anti-tank, anti-capital ship assets or even orbital bombardment.

At least five of the known Black-Collapse Nine threats are capable of taking down Shieldbreaker units _on foot by themselves._ The most dangerous of the BC9 threats, Thana Vathan, has literally destroyed starships while wearing a bathrobe and has bounced _orbital kinetic strikes._ There is no combination of tactics and firepower that will avail you against that, so the reports also cover methods besides direct conflict to stop a target where possible.

The report structure is simple: basic facts, a psychological summary, personal history, motivations, any organizations they are involved in, tactics, allies/enemies, and a tactical summary of abilities.

The point of assembling such information is to provide field teams with basic tactical and behavioral information. Many subjects who have an Investigative Report have heavy cybernetics, advanced biotics, extensive military training, experimental equipment, or all of the above. As each report repeatedly warns, all summations should be taken as a baseline of abilities.

Also be aware that in many cases, what is 'impossible' for an STG team to accomplish using standard tactics doesn't mean the target is _invincible_. Even the most fearsome targets (except maybe Thana Vathan) can be taken unawares or put into situations that mitigate their advantages. Priority in most STG missions, however, is data recovery and survival.

Keep in mind that reports on some of these targets should indicate guidance from the STG master on engagement – some should never be engaged, and Protocol Nineteen (ocular flash-bang liquidation) triggered if hostilities are forced.

The two key points in the report are the psychological summary and the tactical writeup. While the latter is straightforward, the psychological assessment is usually done by Xenopsych, and requires some familiarity with the model for it to be useful.

* * *

 **STG Tactical Writeup**

Most targets that have an STG file fall into one of two groupings : assassination targets or military figures. A third grouping, individual hard targets such as the Solarch, also require analysis.

As such, each file will include a full tactical workup.

The primary information provided, where available, is a listing of the target's known weapons, armor, defenses and other abilities, along with a range-dependent breakdown of target's likely tactics and special notes or observations.

You will note (at least for the more sane targets) that our preferred approach is long-range indirect combat, sabotage, or use of traps.

* * *

 **Standard STG psychological model – Five Tier Quadrant**

Alien psychological structures are often baffling. Most aliens do not (or cannot) abandon or let go of curiously useless and cumbersome moral, ethical and honor-based frameworks of behavior. Many of them do not have a concept of 'the many' and those that do, such as the asari and turians, have such skewed ideals that they are almost incomprehensible.

Xenopsychological analysts from the Reach Research Institute have been attempting to model alien behavior for centuries. Unfortunately, attempting to create a working model using alien modalities has failed repeatedly. Thus, we now utilize a system that makes sense to us.

Keep in mind that this means all psychological projections may be badly out of band from the reality of the individual being analyzed.

Per most salarian methods, psychological basis points are plotted on a vertical cylinder of internalized

and externalized views. This is broken into four quadrants and five layers.

* * *

 **Standard STG psychological model – FTQ Quadrant overlay**

The four quadrants are blends between the two axis of salarian behavioral patterns – active/passive and selfish/selfless. This is overlaid the five ethical layers, which are split between internal and external views.

Active positions focus on actions instead of reactions, while passive is reactive and rarely takes independent action. Most active positions are more aggressive, but that does not mean passive ones are not also capable of such. The difference is active personalities initiate events, passive ones react to events.

Selfish and selfless, the other axis, is predicated on how a salarian views others. Selfish positions mostly focuses on how events interact with the self, while selfless ones are more concerned about how one's self fits into or interacts with the outside world. While many would assume selfish natures are self-serving, this is not always the case. The fundamental difference in the two is the focus of attention – either on greater society, or on one's own efforts.

Active/Selfless (A/Sf) personalities are those who tend to wish to act through the use of others. Many leaders and military officers fit into this quadrant. A/Sf has tendencies to measure events based on feedback from subordinates and are resistant to the idea that any single person matters.

Passive/Selfless (P/Sf) personalities, on the other hand, are the inverse – they see themselves as part of something larger, but do not want to act through others – they want to add their own contributions and make the whole greater. Regardless of moral level, P/Sf types are always problematic, as they resist corruption, cynicism and often refuse to violate their own personal credo.

Active/Selfish (A/Sl) personalities is obsessed with their own personal strength, abilities, and efforts, not really caring about the outside world. Many A/Sl types are flashy and loud, most of them are poor at grasping social nuance, and (like many Solus types) are fearless in the face of death.

Passive/Selfish (P/Sl) personality quadrants are almost always the most dangerous. They see the outside world as merely opportunities, blockages, or challenges to be defeated. Unlike P/Sf, they don't see themselves as part of a greater whole – instead they see any 'greater whole' as something to be utilized for their own purposes.

* * *

 **Standard STG psychological model – FTQ Ethical Overlay**

Despite the lack of context (or common sense) most alien ethical frameworks provide, they are very useful in providing additional insight into the basic views of most sentient beings. As mentioned earlier, from a salarian viewpoint all such reactions are either internalized or externalized, which mostly lines up with selfish/selfless.

The five ethical tiers used in the FTQ model are listed in pairs, the first being the selfless attribute, the second the selfish one. From the most to least benevolent they are : altruistic/heroic, flamboyant/narcissistic, combative/secretive, oppressive/destructive, and malevolent/villainous.

Each one of these is subdivided by the quadrants into aspects.

Altruistic/heroic persons have a positive outlook on things. In general, these people are best described as 'good', for most alien races use of this concept. The four quadrants are Compassionate (A/Sf), Pragmatic/Stubborn (P/Sf), Hothead/Gloryhound (A/Sf), and Healer/Thinker (P/Sl).

All four types demonstrate the following traits: a respect for laws and justice, refusal to engage in things they find morally or ethically repulsive, extremely high levels of mental and emotional resilience, and (most troublingly) an almost lunatic unwillingness to admit that their viewpoints on life are invalid and childish.

The Passive/Selfish quadrant of Healer/Thinker is curious in that for a selfish condition it is fixated on externals and helping people. This flies in the face of both being passive and being selfish but makes sense when by 'healer' you often mean mental healing, not doctoring. Most psychological types don't do so out of altruistic values, but to explore their own mentality and to 'prove' their theories.

Generally speaking, altruistic personalities want to help or defend others, while heroic personalities want to prove themselves or their ideals. Very few figures of note hold to these kinds of ideals, although it could be said that this is due more to the nature of our civilization than any flaw in the concept.

Flamboyant/Narcissistic personalities are less concerned with 'good' and more concerned with 'reactions'. In general, these people are best described as not caring much for morals or ethics as long as they are the center of attention. The four quadrants are Preacher/Guru (A/Sf), Hero/Martyr (P/Sf), Adrenaline Addict (A/Sl) and Depraved (P/Sl).

As with A/H personality, the Passive Selfish type (Depraved) is worthy of note. It is odd in that it most often destroys the person's ability to operate in normal society, the exact opposite of the Healer.

All four types demonstrate the following traits: disregard for laws and a focus instead on intentions, a disturbing level of self-referential justification for acts, high levels of charisma and/or leadership ability, extreme psychological flexibility and finally (even in selfish types) a fixation on praise. These are also the most religiously-focused of the various types.

In general, flamboyant personalities want to be admired and looked up to, while narcissistic personalizes focus on their own needs and expect admiration due to their inflated self-image. Many of the more negative aspects are enhanced by a staggering level of arrogance, entitlement and lack of perspective. Many batarian and volus fall on the selfish side of this scale, and many turians and humans on the selfless side.

Combative/secretive persons view the universe along an axis of reaction or action and are the most neutral of the tiers in terms of what most aliens look at as morals. In general, these people are best described as unconcerned with larger issues. The four quadrants are Promotive (A/Sl), Aggressive (A/Sf), Intense/Suppressed (P/Sl), and Defender (P/Sf).

All four types demonstrate the following traits: a focus on viewing the universe in very harsh 'us or them' conditions, a respect for power and influence, a belief that they are the most qualified to do anything, a disregard of laws and even mores or customs as for 'lessers', and an almost blinding belief in themselves. As could be expected, the vast majority of leadership figures almost almost all alien races tend to fall into this section.

As with all types, the Passive/Selfish quadrant of Intense/Suppressed requires exploration – while the most focused of the types, the Suppressed implies that the person sees themselves as being in combat with literally all of existence, and thus hides themselves and their true persona, beliefs and acts behind masks and veils.

Generally speaking, combative types want to quantify things in terms of, well, combat. Secretive types also see life as combat, but in the context of perception of reality and understanding rather than physical conflict.

Oppressive/destructive have a negative and controlling outlook on life and people. For lack of a better word, 'cruel' or 'hard' can be utilized here. The four quadrants are Affable/Hateful (A/Sl), Disdainful (A/Sf), Mocking/Hateful (P/Sf), and Tyrannical (P/Sl).

All four types demonstrate the following traits: a complete and utter disregard for laws, for sympathy, for altruism and above all else a dislike of weakness. Extremely high levels of mental toughness paired with emotional deafness or limited emotional response. A dismissal of people's motives as always being selfish or self-deluding, and a belief that might (be it combat power, wealth or something else) determines morality.

As with all types, the Passive/Selfish quadrant (Tyrannical) is the most curious, in that it tends to engage in the construction of control mechanisms and domination, be that of people or of cultures and mindsets while the other quadrants focus entirely on physical outcomes or destruction.

Generally speaking, oppressive types want to control others to prevent them from being a danger, while destructive types want to tear down things and people who challenge their supremacy. All quadrants view life as little more than a contest between the strong, with the weak being at best tools.

The most dangerous and 'evil' of the mindsets is the malevolent/villainous grouping. They have a nihilistic view of life at best, seeing most people as idiots and fodder and in the most extreme cases hating the very idea of life itself.

PsyProf (STG group responsible for the Quadrant Classification) has faced many questions and criticisms over this grouping, which is best described as outright evil. There is nothing positive or of any benefit in behaving in this manner. The four quadrants are Plotting/Corruptive (P/Sl), Omnicidal (A/Sf), Cruel/Disdainful (A/Sl), and Defeated/Nihilist (P/Sf).

The Passive/Selfish quadrant (Defeated/Nihilist) is curious in that it is the least outwardly destructive of the quadrants, usually resulting in a fatalistic outlook that finds no value in life. The rest are... worse.

All four types demonstrate the following traits: a complete disregard for laws and the concept that justice is a lie, a refusal of all ethical and moral norms or restrictions on actions, very poor emotional control and mental stability and a varying but inevitable belief that all life is pointless and the universe itself is a hateful construct. There are also mystical overtones to this in some cases.

In general terms, villainous personalities will at least engage with other beings, even if only in a negative manner – malevolent personalities actively plot to commit acts of mass murder, destruction and sanity-breaking cruelty as amusement.

The value of the FTQ model is that it allows for quick sketches of the viewpoints and outlooks of a being, which can be used in planning counter-intelligence, operations or even assault. A Gloryhound personality will be vulnerable to setups that allow him to gain media attention and admiration, while the same setup could work for an Adrenaline Addict with some changes. But it would not work well for a Compassionate type, or a Tyrannical type.

* * *

 **STG Operational Tasking Assignments**

While STG Executives have no direct command oversight, for reporting purposes each one of the three manages the logistics and streamlines communications for large groupings of OTAs when they interact with the Salarian Union. For purposes of organization they are thus grouped here.

 _Operational OTA: 44 Tasking Assignments:_ the Operations group handles almost all internal STG activity, training, equipment, and development. A pool of eight Tasking Assignments is left free and is usually assigned direct action by the STG Master.

STG Operations Command (responsible for STG HQ, Communications, Security, Encryption, etc) : 12 TA

STG Training Command: 7 TA

STG Supply Command : 7 TA

STG Science Directorate : 3 TA

STG War College : 3 TA

STG Transcendental Studies : 3 TA

STG Silent Step : 1 TA

STG General Task Pool: 8 TA

 _Focused OTA: 39 Tasking Assignments:_ Focus OTAs deal with one issue, group, or problem and do not deviate from it.

Shadow Broker: 3 TA

Cerberus : 3 TA

Circle of the Fallen: 2 TA

Eclipse: 2 TA

Mercenary Groups: 2 TA

Lythari : 2 TA

Yindo/BRFS Movement: 4 TA

Asari Republic: 4 TA

Turian Hierarchy : 2 TA

Batarian Empire : 2 TA

Hanar Illuminated State : 5 TA

Quarians: 1 TA

Volus: 2 TA

Vol Corporate Court: 1 TA

Noveria : 1 TA

Elcor: 1 TA

Systems Alliance: 1 TA

Lords of Sol: 1 TA

 _General OT: 33 Tasking Assignments :_ Non focused OTAs available for general deployment. Some of these overlap or reinforce Focused assignments.

Combat Focus: 10 TA

Investigative Focus: 10 TA

Infiltration Focus : 4 TA

Commercial Espionage Focus : 2 TA

Industrial Espionage Focus : 2 TA

Anti-quarian development: 4 TA

Alteration Framework : 1 TA

* * *

 **STG Special Operations Cells**

The following cells are dedicated to very specific operations.

Mannov-Kiron Cell: command cell of Master Field Agent Danith. Used for all special-insertion operations and the only SALARAIS-WHITE cleared cell.

Yrtha-Vov Cell: command cell of Master Field Agent Korals. Used for LoZ interfaces.

Umbra Cell: command cell of Master Field Agent Kossi. Used for asari deep insertions. (No jokes, please).

* * *

 **STG Command Agents**

The following Agents are specialists assigned to particular tasks and advise the STG Master on these.

Executive Agent SOLUTHUS : turian specialist, assassination specialist, poison specialist

Executive Agent ERGOHAI : hanar specialist, science specialist, cybernetic medical specialist

Executive Agent MAITHAN: asari specialist, infomemetic specialist, LoZ historian

Master Field Agent Korals : LoZ liason, geth specialist, AI specialist

Master Field Agent Danith: Broker Specialist

Master Field Agent Yanthis : hacking and info-war specialist

Master Field Agent Kossi : Thirty Specialist

Master Agent Valgra : War Priestess tactical specialist

Senior Agent Soril : Systems Alliance specialist, Cerberus specialist

Senior Agent Milunis: specialist, Spectres and Spectre equipment loadouts.

Senior Agent Vinaris: anti-infiltration specialist, Cerberus specialist

Senior Agent Kathan: Reaper specialist

Senior Agent Rasha: cybernetics specialist

Senior Agent Jethoth : Systems Alliance specialist, special forces focus

Senior Agent Vessi : infiltration and reporting specialist

Senior Transcendental Sonni Dasso : biotics specialist


	2. Sub-file AYT-001 : Asari, Turians

_STG Field Manual_

 ** _Subfile AYT-001 : Alien Interaction with other primary races (asari, turian)_**

* * *

 _Prepared by Senior Agent Vessi, reporting specialist._

 _Compiled by Master Field Agent Kossi, Executive Agent SOLUTHUS, Senior Agent Soril, Senior Agent Dagama, Master Agent Kolar (retired), and Master Agent Unai (retired)_

 _This is a_ ** _Virshan-Orange_** _file. Distribution is for senior (non-FCA/non-FAC) agents and specialists only._

* * *

 **Alien Relations and Interpretations**

While the STG is not by any means a diplomatic group, nor one that should be making any kind of first contact or on-going contact with aliens, the reality is that we have to deal with aliens. And that's a problem, because by the Collapse, all aliens (save perhaps the elcor) are _stupid_.

All of them save the hanar and volus are obsessed with sex, violence, and stupidity like 'culture' and 'honor.' The asari are so warped they murder their own people while mouthing graashit about 'unity,' the turians are very literally split-souled and butchered most of their own race multiple times, humans are beyond idiocy, and the less said about batarians the better. Quarians are stupid, unwise, and stubborn, volus are so obsessed with money they can't see beyond it, and the hanar are creepier than the Collapse Plague. I shouldn't even have to mention the lack of vorcha intelligence or the ability to do anything but set things on fire and hit each other.

The only other race with any brains is the elcor, who decided some time ago to mostly ignore everything outside of their region of space and spend their time partying and getting blasted on drugs. There are times I wonder if they had the right idea, usually after having to liaison with some melodramatic Blackwatch 'professional' and un-fuck whatever they got wrong in a Council mission.

Sadly, we cannot live in a vacuum or afford to go on years-long drug binges. We are stuck with the aliens even if they are all morons.

As such, I assure you, at some point you will have to interact, comprehend, fix, or Shego help you, even predict what said morons are going to do next. Worse, we have to try and apply some kind of framework to understand their illogical, non-circular, and most of all, emotionally-driven psychology. This is about as easy as solving high-level math equations with all the variables rendered as interpretive dance routines.

Things no sane salarian would think of, such as concepts of morality being somehow on par with survival imperatives, are enshrined in alien religions full of invisible sky people, dead spirits who can see the future, and even less translatable drek. Flat-out insane discrimination on the most arbitrary and bizarre conditions – skin color (humans and turians), eye shape (batarians and drell), breast size (asari), even _skull shape_.

On top of this, they focus on elements of life that most salarians dismiss as unimportant – convoluted mating rituals that have no relation to actual worth, ignorance, and even flat-out trust of complete strangers, the human ideal of 'charity' and the turian one of 'hathra' that basically state you are a bad person unless you give away your belongings to complete strangers too stupid to get their own affairs in order… on and on and on.

There is a reason STG regs require that only senior agents and above deal directly with other alien groups, and it is to preserve your sanity, I assure you.

(This is probably why most Master Agents are not exactly stable any longer. You wouldn't be either if you had to run analysis on why certain patterns of scarves are more attractive to hanar than others, only to find the most valued ones are from ancient human pagan/syncretic rituals corrupted into the celebration of the birth of one of their invisible sky gods who they killed and claim came back to life… no, I'm not making this up and it isn't a typo.)

The STG has devoted two entire groups (Psychological Profiling or 'PsyProf,' and Aythaology, or the study of non-salarians) to study, analyze, extrapolate, categorize, and model alien behavior, beliefs, psychology, personality, and reactions. Ninety percent of the time we get it wrong because aliens are just that weird, and because alien reactions and what they focus on is so out-of-band from salarian norms. Aliens see good and evil as opposites instead of perspectives, think order is something you create rather than something that is only apparent in backglances, and other such nonsense.

PsyProf and AYT thus have to spend a tremendous amount of time breaking down alien reactions, thought patterns, 'logic,' and other factors to provide insight and understanding. For the most part that is akin to trying to translate the gibberish of a child into high-level dialogue. However, some of what is done by these groups as well as others is adjustments to our own thinking, based on the tendencies and understandings of centuries of STG experience when interacting with these alien morons.

None of you reading the above are surprised, or disagree with the concept that most aliens are, in the gestalt whole, Collapse-damned idiots of the highest order of selfish and shortsighted incompetence. Nor do any of you disagree with the idea that our own groups designated to make such idiocy into something understandable usually fail.

While this is true, it is also a weakness of the STG and salarians in general.

Salarians may be the smartest and most logical of races, but we also have our weaknesses, and arrogance is one of them. The view that 'aliens are stupid' often leads to arrogant dismissal of such aliens and their ability to match wits with us. Some of this is justified. The problem is that almost all aliens, even if they are not as smart, agile, and technologically advanced as we are, have other advantages. They live longer, they hit harder, they can take and give out more damage, and they're too stupid to realize they're overmatched. Some of them literally can't be infiltrated, and others are simply too crazy to accurately model.

Salarian arrogance and dismissal about alien capabilities has gotten more of you killed than a thousand plots. When we have acted against alien forces, intelligence units, or hard targets, more than one STG cell has not bothered to consider that stupid doesn't mean incompetent or harmless. And as a result, we've lost teams, cells, or in one case, most of an OTA due to this arrogance.

Thus, some of what you are trained in, given to read, or forced to endure in hyper-hypnosis is not one hundred percent accurate. Some of you have no doubt commented or complained to your senior agents, while others make sneering talk of cowardice, as if you're some spine-arched painted up Soluthus savage with a spear from the old days.

There is a reason for such inaccuracy. I assume many of you with more experience will note several trends:

First, there is a strong tendency for STG files to seemingly rate many threats as invincible, unstoppable, or godlike, which is later proven to be _seemingly_ wrong when said threat (Tyriun no Kage, Akla, and Vensha T'koro all come to mind) is defeated. In some cases, threat estimations are overinflated, while in others we make it sound like anything short of orbital bombardment against a target is useless.

This is due to the fact that STG teams seemingly think just because you can out-think the enemy means you can kill him, her, or it. This is not true.

There is no STG team or group of STG teams that was going to ever do anything but slightly irritate Shaltah of Ilium. We lost twenty-five teams over six years trying, including a trio of Shieldbreakers. We had cells set up sniper teams and lost them. We had poison specialists, explosive experts, and Transcendentals all fail to take her out.

We gave her a BC9 rating and that was the end of it, until she was shot to pieces in a hellish three-way battle between the Blackwatch, the Nightwind, and for some fucking reason, the Eclipse Mercenary Group. Does that mean the report was wrong? Not from the point of view of an STG team.

The files are for OUR use. We don't assess, for example, if a Deathwatch kill team could take down nightmares like Tazzik. It's very likely they could, but these are not the 'STG Files that we hand out.' The assessments are based on the capabilities of an _average salarian strike force_ or in some cases, a full combat cell.

Can a Black-Collapse threat really threaten the Salarian Union? That depends entirely on the threat. Tetrimus Rakora certainly can't kill us all, or keep from dying if we, say, orbitally bombarded him with a trio of cruisers for an hour. But we're very unlikely to ever be able to pin him down long enough to drop a fuel-air-eezo bomb on his head or lock him down with twenty Shieldbreakers.

The second reason the files are the way they are is due to another salarian trait, overconfidence. In theory, enough explosives, traps, and careful sniping could kill Tetrimus, or Thana Vathan. But the situation is not going to happen, and trying to set it up only gets more STG agents killed.

It's not that we couldn't, for example, kill Okeer. The problem is that if you go into a situation expecting normal STG tactics will work, there is a proven, demonstrated history that the STG team will underestimate the threat. Time and time again, we've given accurate profiles and yet an STG team fails to use the appropriate level of combat power or planning and fails.

When that happens, there is _always_ a price to pay.

The final reason the things are the way they are is because the STG Master has a much wider view of the ramifications of the actions a field team or a cell will take. Sure, it's technically possible (with a lot of luck) that a set of cells could take down terror networks like the Insurgence or Pride of Dhan. They aren't invulnerable.

But consider Cerberus. It took the combined forces of sixty STG cells and twenty Spectres, plus large amounts of Hierarchy troops and even several Royal Hunting Parties to shatter that organization – and that was only after its own leader betrayed it. Going up against groups like that requires both extreme investment and expenditure of a huge amount of political capital – and that is not your call to make.

Some beings are rated Black Collapse because going after them and killing them is never going to be advantageous to the Salarian Union. When Vhensi Solus went rogue and ended up needing to be taken out, the STG Master at the time didn't act immediately because Solus was clearly working with the Shadow Broker and we weren't antagonistic. A senior agent went after him anyways and that has led to our current issues with the Broker.

 _Identification of threats is not a license to kill_.

In summation, then, keep in mind the following dictates when acting on intelligence:

 **Assume the worst in ALL aspects:** It has been repeated many times before that units (or worse, individuals) with an STG file aren't typically the kind of thing we engage. Yes, we know you have a no-doubt detailed and clever plan to stop (insert lethally dangerous and murderous nutjob target here), but have you considered the costs? Not only in the lives of STG agents, but equipment? Ships? Money spent to bypass defenses? Legal costs? Legal ramifications? Political fallout? Backlash or revenge plots?

Every one of the jhonrgi who have a file have it because they are literally more trouble than it is worth to kill. Since some of you are nearly vorcha-stubborn, let me repeat – _if we wanted them dead, we wouldn't send you to do it_. If you run into these people keep that in mind – assume the worst from the file and run if possible. You do not aid the Union by being dead.

 **If Protocol Nineteen is a designated response you shouldn't try it:** Contrary to the beliefs of some junior agents, we do not assign this to targets just to kill off agents we don't like. Having an STG agent fall into the hands of some alien intelligence agency is bad enough, but falling into the hands of the Broker (or the Wheel help you, P.) is a disaster. Despite what you think, STG agents can and have been broken. While pain response from nerves can be disjuncted, you have no defense against mind-affecting drugs, nanite sequestration, or asari mind-rips.

The loss of data and possibility of counter-influence or even infiltration into the STG is simply not worth it. If the target is so dangerous that death is the only option, you should find another plan or another target.

 **Aliens are alien:** The STG is a close-knit group and you will often not interact much with alien nationals of any kind, especially in analyst and support groups. Trying to deduce reactions or possible vulnerabilities from the sketchy data we have in the STG files on targets is a dangerous game, made more so by the fact that many times PsyProf and AYT get it very, very wrong.

For every target we get right, like the Element, we fuck up like with Tazzik or Okeer. Keep in mind that what makes sense to you may not be how an alien thinks, reacts, or is likely to respond.

* * *

 **Alien Interaction Guidelines : Asari and Turian**

 _(This file only covers asari and turians. Humans and quarians can be found in subfile AYT-002, volus, batarians, drell, and the like in AYT-003.)_

Aliens, like salarians, are not monolithic groups with one way of existence. No one sane would expect all salarians to act like Solus Clan members, or Lythari – yet repeatedly, I have seen dull-horned 'experts' think that all humans are hulking muscular suicide warriors, or that all turians are disciplined and unable to handle chaos, or that all asari are untrustworthy sex-obsessive liars.

(Well, okay, maybe the last one is true.)

Assuming things about an alien is an excellent method to experience failure, most likely organ failure from repeatedly being shot to pieces.

Races are made up of individuals who are just that – individual. While stereotypes often have a grounding in reality, this reality is equally given to false perspectives. Understanding aliens is very hard and beyond both the scope of this document and what you are expected to do. However, general guidelines can be very useful and, when applied to logical analysis, will yield much better results than racist assumptions.

* * *

 _Asari:_

Having dealt with the asari longer than any other race, most salarians (rather arrogantly) assume we understand them. The 'average' asari comes off as mysteriously demure outside the mating chamber, rarely acting in a bold fashion, and always ready to discuss and mediate troubles. Their focus on sex is frustrating to us and is seen by some as enabling the yindo deviants, while their socioeconomic might is equally frustrating since no one else seems to want to challenge it.

However, the salarian people seem to forget that asari are on top because they put themselves there. Their ability to manipulate entire cultures over centuries and twist them to asari needs is incredibly dangerous, and their lifespans ensure they can simply wait out most short-term problems.

Asari are unique in that they differ greatly both based on their age bracket as well as their hierarchy. Maiden asari clanless are much different than maiden asari of the Thirty, for example. The rule is simple: clanless are powerless and seek power to change their lives. Clan members are powerless and seek power to influence the clan. Lesser House members are powerless and seek power to advance to the Greater Houses. Only members of the Thirty have power – and most of them don't, and seek it to become a leader of their house.

For all the fancy words about unity, peace, and understanding, asari are amusingly much simpler to manipulate than turians or humans with the proper motivation. Keep in mind, though, that the asari are also more experienced with social manipulations than any other race and it is not impossible for them to turn the tables on you. Asari have had centuries of this kind of interaction and it is their specialty, so seeking to manipulate them must be done carefully.

The key thing to remember with asari is that they don't live any slower than the rest of us. An asari maiden may seem innocent and playful, but she's still been alive for a century. Asari will always be more skillful, well-trained, and capable of many more skillsets than any non-asari. They have all the time in the world to devote years or even decades to honing a single skill or discipline, and will have had the chance to examine things at great remove that no salarian could hope to match. When it comes to matching their schemes, keep in mind some of their plans stretch across decades, centuries or even millennia.

Maiden asari are consumed with sexuality. This is least pronounced in the Thirty, who can usually manage to be discreet, as well as the Lesser Houses and clans, who tend to keep such things behind closed doors. For the most part, maidens in the clans or Thirty are more given to follow the guidance of elders and family members, and tend to define themselves by their interests. Sexuality to them is part of a closed-loop game among asari.

Maiden clanless, on the other hand, have defined their entire lives by such things for over a thousand years, and have only gotten more outrageous over time. The clanless maiden who has no opportunities on Thessia may find an alien mate and change her life, so her sexuality is her weapon. The fact that most obsess over it is due to the fact their culture drowns them in it.

The clanless has no other skills or advantages – most are poor, have no backers, and can only look forward to centuries of drudge work before dying well before their betters. As such, clanless maidens can often be tempted with money and support but more often by confidence and having belief in them. A pursuit based on sexual acts is unlikely to last long (although Alteration Line GV-4 is focused on producing taller, more muscular, and robust FCA units for asari specialization).

Maiden clan, Lesser House, and Thirty are almost never seen far outside of Asari Space (for different reasons). In particular, maidens of the Thirty are almost always accompanied by a House Guard, who are trained for centuries to protect the maiden's life as well as her happiness. As such, these more guarded asari are not suitable for approaching – clan asari are basically brainwashed anyway.

Matrons are almost always family focused, and thus are bound by the twin dicta of being tied to offspring and worrying about their stability. Most asari are mated with non-asari and thus will lose their mates in short order – one reason why very few non-outcast asari mingle sexually with salarians beyond the maiden years.

Matrons of the Thirty and Lesser Houses are never, ever seen outside core Asari Space. Clan Matrons are so immersed in clan affairs that the same is true. Clanless matrons are an easier access point than maidens – while salarians are, well, not the most gifted of lovers in that regard, a salarian who can provide a financial contact, job, or even contract work is a lifeline to a poorer clanless matron with worries about her children's future.

Matrons are all going to be distracted by their offspring and less aware of other events. As such, utilization of them in any STG role is likely to be limited at best.

Matriarchs are not a figure an STG cell should attempt to coerce or manipulate, regardless of status. They simply have too much experience and are far too grounded in the lives they've developed in most cases. Specialist asari analysts with specific training are the only STG cells authorized to deal with matriarchs.

For working on official Council missions, the only asari you are likely to be paired with are Spectres. Justicars do not work with the STG and the asari police is strictly intra-territorial. Most asari Spectres are infiltration, seduction, and data specialists and are at least capable of doing their job. The only one of note is Tela Vasir, who has done operations with the STG for centuries and is capable of holding actual conversations or appreciating more subtle ops suggestions. Vasir has participated in over six hundred joint STG missions (nineteen of them involving elements that would have been troublesome if exposed to the Thirty) and has not once betrayed our trust or communicated STG secrets, methods, or sources.

Per Protocol 9383-A-Vasir, STG units are formally ordered to return the same courtesy.

In general terms, asari are focused on long-term outcomes that allow them to play to their strengths. For the most part, asari do not have serious levels of political infighting, separatists, or the like. Those who cannot fit into the asari society as a whole are either shifted to Ilium or flee the Asari Republic for the Systems Alliance or Omega. While there are a handful of 'unaffiliated' asari colonies, all of them – save Ilium – are little more than backwater accumulations of those who don't bow to the Thirty.

Asari do not value intelligence and cleverness the way a salarian does. Instead, they prize the ability to understand – emotionally and viscerally. Asari use sex and linking so much because it is a fantastic tool to bypass most of the defenses other races put up, and to make themselves both seen as something to care about and less dangerous. The asari fleet is the most powerful, they have the largest economy, a huge tech lead in many industries, and an absolute monopoly on the optronics that underlie all modern technology – and idiots thinking with their phallus see them as 'less of a threat' than the turians or humans.

(Granted, I would hope most salarians don't think with their phallus, but the number of yindo groups is rising yearly and we had to liquidate an entire cell that had gone full-out yindo a few weeks back.)

See ranting above about stupidity of aliens.

* * *

 _Standard considerations for asari:_

Always assume that any non-clanless asari is going to report interactions to someone in her clan or Family. Plan accordingly and do not overfish the waters. Non-clanless are followers of authority to a fault and are encouraged to defer hard decisions to matriarchs – be prepared for interference.

Clanless asari are powerless but also nearly invisible in asari culture. They are useful in obtaining low-scale background information but will have no access to clan or House dealings. Clanless can be very bitter, and their adherence to the concept of asari unity does not extend to the clans. On the other hand, they tend to be fearful and worshipful of the Thirty and will rarely if ever betray them.

The only time of vulnerability of any member of the Thirty is in her maiden years, especially if she wanders far from Asari Space, which most do not do. Locating such members is critical and contact must be done by specialists only.

Never forget that if you bond with an asari she can see your memories in some cases, particularly members of the Thirty. If you're some kind of yindo deviant under wraps and have to go do that kind of thing then do it with drell, at least they're discreet and _can't read your mind_.

* * *

 _Turians:_

Turians are quite possibly the most frustrating and illogical alien race we are forced to deal with. Their adherence to their outdated honor codes and refusal to surrender or retreat is only matched by the sheer silliness of their love of melodrama and chasing thrills. Their innate ignorance of the reality of the universe's cruel truths is further made more infuriating by their stubborn refusal to change their minds on just about anything. This is a society where a figure like Sparatus was made Citadel Councilor because in turian minds he was dangerously open to changing his mind and listening to the opinions of others before making decisions.

Sparatus. Yeah. When that's your idea of an _open-minded freethinker_ …

Turians are credulous and naïve about motives, distrustful and yet blind to manipulations that don't involve gross physical combat, equate physical prowess with competence and have an ugly predilection towards assuming their fancy fleets, guns, and whatnot would stop sabotage. As such, they come off as intolerably arrogant, dismissive of others and above all else, what humans call 'edge-lording' (the most appropriate salarian term is in the old cant of Manthus, 'hajanhsa,' meaning literally "blind-spirited-pretense-of-martial-prowess")

This leaves turians at the very bottom of the intelligence/espionage ladder.

The turian advantage, however, is that one cannot break a turian. A turian who is devoted to the Hierarchy will not and perhaps cannot betray them. Turians can and have died in agony that would break a krogan without betraying their principles or fellow turians. While there are turian separatists, these beings cannot be manipulated any more than regular turians can, their only real differences being in who they choose to slavishly obey.

Turians (with the notable exceptions of the Deathwatch and the Palavanus) tend to see espionage as dishonorable and hiding intent as cowardly. This makes them easier to plan for than the polymorphic humans, and less frustrating to follow than the long-view asari. Dealing with turians can be straightforward in most other areas.

Turians tend to organize their lives around ascent up the meritocracy and performing their duties to the best of their abilities, but even among turians, there are those who are more ambitious than others. Cells forced to interact with turians should lay out their plans or requests in such a way that the turian will see it as benefiting himself or the turians as a whole, with the latter being a safer bet.

Turians can lie, but most do not do so. If a turian gives his sworn word on something, then it is almost unheard of for them to go back on such a declaration. That should not make you think they are trustworthy, however – more than once, clever turians have achieved impressive results because assumptions were made in exactly what a turian promised to do.

For the most part, you will interact with regular turians. Separatists can be dealt with the same way with the caveat that all separatist groups are politically dangerous and that under no circumstances can any link from the STG to any separatist group ever be allowed to fall into Hierarchy hands. Regular turians value honor and valor, and pretty much should be mostly dealt with by Solus Clan members of a more martial bent.

When having to manipulate regular turians, keep in mind that they also have their prejudices and arrogant assumptions. Most will think salarians are cowardly and weak – demonstrations of martial skill, bravery, and valor will greatly impress them to the point that they will listen carefully to proposals and even consider less-than-valorous acts if the payoff is likely to help them ascend the meritocracy.

Turians don't value information discipline like we do, and aside from military research facilities, have a demonstrated weakness in infowar defenses for civilian targets, including critical targets such as medical facilities, power generation, and financial centers.

Comms security is also relatively weak and a cell that operates in turian areas with a decent cover can obtain a great amount of low-level but broad information with little to no risk. Covers recommended are those that turians disdain, such as geology/metallurgical analysis, art or cultural studies, or medical work.

Turian sexuality is not a recommended inroad. Turian chirality aside, males will injure salarian females in coitus and the turian female's anatomy isn't suited to salarian males. Furthermore, turians do not attach much value to sex (unlike humans), and while the females are as bad as asari maidens, tend to not indulge much with aliens.

Outcast (not separatists, but those who have abandoned the Hierarchy entirely) turians deviate greatly from the norm, and are more inclined and open to treachery and less-than-upfront conversations. While they are still obsessed with valor in most cases, honor has become more situation to them and most are willing to follow a strong leader who can engage them emotionally.

The Blackwatch is the usual unit the STG gets paired with in Council assignments. For the most part, they are boringly professional, non-communicative to the extreme, obsessed with honor and bravery, and very likely to be best used as bullet shields and/or distractions. While they are very combat competent and at least quicker on the uptake than the average turian military grunt, they are also mostly glory-seeking lunatics whose idea of victory is dying heroically. Keep your communications to a minimum and (if possible) let the team liaison do all the talking.

The Blackwatch is laughable, but the Deathwatch must never be underestimated. Of all the intelligence groups we have to fend off or deal with, they are the closest to being competent on our own level. They are both utterly fearless and completely without pity or morals, have an admirable grasp on the use of brutality and overkill as messages, and delight in being dishonorable towards those they feel do not deserve to be treated with honor.

No Deathwatch agent should be trusted and assume any interaction with them is part of a plan to weaken the STG. Being able to manipulate them is not something a non-specialist should ever attempt.

The Palavanus are even more un-turian to disturbing levels. Evincing concepts and reactions no other turian has (sarcasm, cunning, and openly malicious trolling) they have withdrawn from day-to-day operations but are still highly active in turian society. As they stand outside of both the chain of command and the meritocracy, they are not driven to prove themselves, and cannot be manipulated in that fashion. In fact, it's a remarkably bad idea to attempt to manipulate a Palavanus at all. They are, of all aliens, the closest thing to our mental equals and are every bit as nasty and dangerous as a pissed-off dalatrass.

In general terms, turians are focused on their families, their own standings in the meritocracy, and the general welfare of turians and the Hierarchy as a whole. Pack animals by evolution, the tendencies of groupthink and displays of self-sacrifice are not only common but expected. Turians do not prize or value innovation, deviance, or counter-culture. They are, to quote a particularly drunk Master Agent Kolar, "boring as a fucking accounting cant and twice as useless when solving problems."

Keep in mind the turians obliterated over a hundred million of their own people to stop revolts and routinely chastise _asari justicars for being too soft on crime_. Let that sink in a minute, and try not to engage in hysterical laughter, that never helps.

* * *

 _Standard considerations for turians:_

Turians are completely driven by their perception of honor and valor (and to a lesser degree, bravery). These are modified by their love of melodrama. At the same time, turians also have a sort of persecution complex and see themselves as struggling against the universe. The best cold approach for any turian will always be to engage him or her in concepts that touch on this.

Criticism (logical and well-founded or not) is never appreciated or tolerated by any turian. They tend to make decisions in a decisive manner (if not based on, you know, actual information) and then stick to said decision even if it is clearly wrong. Changing a turian's mind is best done by appeals to valorous or otherwise foolhardy actions that place them in a positive light. The Blackwatch is particularly vulnerable to this.

Always keep in mind that long-term infiltration of turians is only possible in the outer regions. Unlike humans, volus, and asari, turians have at least enough sense to keep aliens far away from their homeworld and primary industrial centers. Focusing on obtaining useful intel and contacts on the periphery of the Turian Hierarchy can still produce useful results due to turian weakness in comms security, however.


	3. Sub-file AYT-002 : Humans, Quarians

_STG Field Manual_

 ** _Subfile AYT-002: Alien Interaction with other primary races (human, quarian)_**

* * *

 _Prepared by Master Agent Korals (retired), Aytheology Specialist, Quarian Specialist, Human Specialist, SPECTRE (retired)_

 _Compiled by Master Field Agent Kossi, Executive Agent SOLUTHUS, Senior Agent Soril, Senior Agent Dagama, and Master Agent Unai (retired)_

This is a _Virshan-Orange_ file. Distribution is for senior (non-FCA / non-FAC) agents and specialists only.

* * *

 **A few words you'd best open your horns to:**

I am Master Agent Korals Yresso. If you don't know who I am, go tell your Master Agent so we can figure out how someone with a full lobotomy is walking around.

We're rewriting this entire set of subfiles because you newts don't get it.

I was a Senior Agent thirty years ago when the humans first came onto the scene, and I've been retired for longer than most of you arrogant newts have been alive. I'm the oldest Collapse-be-damned salarian in history at age fifty-nine, aside from that relic Edat Kurass who's mostly cybernetics by now. I have nine Swords of Shego, two Black Remembrances, four Citadel Medals of Valor, and the human's Star of Sol.

I wrote half the reports and files you morons were trained on, and the only reason half of you are alive is that me, Muvai Solus, Tela Vasir, and Saren Arterius stopped Remembrance from blowing all of Sur'Kesh into rubble. So, when I speak, I expect you all to listen. If you don't, you'll be dead, just like a lot of other brave, smart, intelligent, crafty, and _dead as last week's fish_ agents I've known.

Vessi is dismissive (and a racist cloaca) because unlike most of you, he's buried damn near his entire family and all of his clutch-brothers due to alien action. Most of those deaths _could_ have been avoided. Most of them _weren't_ avoided because of turian or asari operational stupidity coupled with rash action and reckless arrogance on the part of several very dead STG Masters and Master Agents.

Vessi is not _wrong_ in his racism. It is not a lie to say we're the smartest, or that we have pushed the limits of technology further. It is not a lie to say that asari are ancient and evil creatures that spit lies to cover their own sins while twisting the very fabric of other races. It is not a lie to say the turians are clearly little more than the puppets of the Palavanus and were shaped to be blind to the pull-strings.

Vessi is wrong, however, in assuming that we're any damned better than they are. Smarter and cleverer and more suited to espionage didn't stop the hanar from stomping a squirt-hole in our cloacas in the Refusals. It didn't stop the krogan from coming within a few weeks of dropping giant rocks on Sur'Kesh.

For being so fucking smart, that intelligence sure hasn't done anything to stop the asari from dominating the galaxy or countering their optronics graashit, has it?

All our vaunted intellect has done has convinced the other races that we're feeble, obsessed with secrets, and not to be trusted. Turians and humans killed each other by the boatload and now work together to develop new technologies and share ships. Volus and vorcha have nothing in common and yet are united. The damned quarians were elevated from ruins-grubbers and sneak-thieves to a Council seat.

Why? Because they risked it all. They didn't sit back like grona-slugs and send out cloned up agents to die in piles or waste money and lives listening to a fuck-all giant plant who's probably laughing itself silly at us. They impressed the other races by going against their own instincts and patterns to charge like an enraged krogan and held the line against overwhelming geth firepower like a turian elite would.

We, on the other hand, have _lost_ influence. Quarians and humans and turians are the new power block, and the asari are already making inroads with them and the volus.

Our arrogant and uppity superiority does not render respect. It creates hate, fear, and jealousy, and above all else, the realization that we'd be quite happy murdering the rest of the galaxy to make ourselves safe.

That is _not the Special Task we were given by Shiron_. Our very first duty was to strike down our own to _ensure the salarian people were not threatened by alien retribution_. And the way we act – especially in the past five years – has done nothing but paint giant targeting frames on us.

So, when I tell you stupid newts to stop thinking we're somehow running anything, you should listen. I've seen the sweep of history as much as any other salarian can claim, more than Shego, more than Kalras the Wise. I've seen the fall of four STG Masters, I've seen the emergence of an entirely new power structure, and I've seen how we have failed to adapt.

That can be ameliorated, I assure you. And I believe humans and quarians are the lever to do so.

Humans and quarians are odd creatures who are very fussy about their self-image. While most of it is graashit thick enough to plant a mushroom farm on, catering to it is the key to making nice with them. Unlike Vessi, I'll not tell you aliens are useless. We didn't stop the rachni. We only shut down the krogan with Okeer's help and turian pushing. We didn't stop the Thirteen, or the hanar, or the Blitz of the Forsaken.

There wasn't a single damned salarian on the crew of Commander Shepard when she stopped Saren, Benezia, and whatever the Collapse they were really up to with that Reaper thing.

So, pull your self-congratulatory heads out of your cloacas and at least attempt to learn something before I keel over and die.

* * *

 **Alien Relations and Interpretations : New Council Members**

History is important, and you're all junior to me, so listen up.

Until recently, the balance of power was clearly in the hands of the asari and salarian people. The turians never were master diplomats or skilled in espionage, and did not need to be as their place on the Council was that of the muscle. Muscle that was useful as long as it didn't try anything, and, for the most part, the turians were fine with that. The volus kept things from bubbling over and we were able to play all the idiots against one another.

I'm beginning to suspect that such ease of manipulation was _exactly_ what both the Thirty and the Palavanus wanted. It maintained a balance of power, for many reasons, that was advantageous to everyone.

Precarious as it was, this balance required the STG to waste our energy and time on trying to focus on thwarting the asari menace, while it allowed the asari to slowly and carefully blunt and twist the turians, and allowed the turians to have an outlet to tamp down and stop any further Unification Wars. You can see who came out on top in that mess.

Hint: wasn't us.

The problem with the balance is that we had no real tools to change it to be more in our favor. Alteration has produced a lot of variants that range from the useless (sex agents, really?) to the dubious (A88c, the living computers, have a ninety-two percent failure rate after a year) to the Collapse-damned idiotic (Tazzik). Economics and cultural tricks have never been what we're good at, and in the years before the Relay 314 Incident, most of our time was locked up countering stupid asari stunts.

Minor races like the elcor and volus simply did not project onto the galactic stage in the ways we cared about, so their influence went entirely unchecked. Meanwhile, the krogan and quarians were spent and exhausted groups lost in their own troubles, and we spent no resources on keeping any kind of eye on them (hence, Okeer going bad without us being aware, if he wasn't bad the entire time).

Thus, it was a continual circle that no one had the interest or heft to disrupt.

The arrival of humanity on the galactic scene disrupted _everything_.

The turians, in their understandable but lock-jointed aggression, managed to piss-off the only race that prefers death to submission and is clearly some kind of genetic offshoot of the asari. (I say 'understandable' because their internecine violence serves a number of purposes. Just because we don't see value in something or grasp it, doesn't make it 'stupid' or 'mindless' any more than thought-seek is mindless because it has no lasting effects.)

The leaders of humans (who are much more dangerous than the average human) were brilliant in their transmission of the 'Message,' a melodramatic info burst of shocking video of turian atrocity and scenes of human children dying and ruined worlds.

It was calculated to tug at heartstrings, and it did so with great effect. The turians themselves recoiled from images of shattered, burning nurseries and blind, burn-scarred tiny human children as if they were scenes of a smashed turian hatchery. The volus saw an entirely new and untapped market going up in flames. Elcor saw worlds of great beauty burning. The quarians and krogan saw another helpless race being kicked into oblivion.

Even we responded. The idea of a primitive species fighting for its life against outlandish and insane odds using cunning, sabotage, and deceit was something every salarian could viscerally grasp. I remember thinking these new aliens were fascinating in that they not only spat on turian honor concepts but missed no opportunities in using it as a weapon against the turian.

Ah, the asari, though…

I was there, I remember. The asari were horrified. While most races have somewhat similar features in some regards, the amount of identical things between the two races – eyes, facial features, breasts, even teeth and joints – is eerie. Asari saw beings like themselves being obliterated savagely and their entire culture was protesting and angry in mere hours.

The asari fleet tore across relays with the wrath of a goddess named Uressa, and she wasn't taking any shit from anyone. The Citadel tried to block her and she stood in the Council Chambers and dragged all three across the gap with her biotics before telling them if they interfered they would need really good spinal repair. She force-boarded a turian ship holding a relay in lockdown and biotically slapped the entire crew into submission, and if rumors are correct, damn near killed one of the Thirty who tried to stop her.

The asari acted to save the humans for more reasons than Uressa's outrage, of course. Humans solved all kinds of problems for the asari – outcasts, lack of alien mates, asari who never swung xeno, and most of all, a client race like the turians had. Humans being so close to them gave them an opportunity to practice their arts on a truly unsuspecting race – and the fact the humans are so sex-obsessed themselves only made that easier.

Unfortunately, they didn't understand humanity and thus, doing so only intensified the error of the turians. The only thing humans resent worse than slavery is condescending pats on the head like you'd give a fishdog, and to be the fishdogs of the asari wasn't in the deck. They have proven over time to be a mess to deal with no matter what you think of them.

And us? We did nothing. The STG was focused too much on other events and ignored the recommendations of Explorations, who had visited and observed human culture for over six hundred years via FTL scouts (as with five other 'undiscovered' races we still keep tabs on). We assumed that humanity would be a mentally scarred wreck and a footnote, sexual playthings for the asari and maybe a good aftermarket for surplus out-of-date tech for us to dump.

Arrogance.

Humans proved terrifyingly adept at improvisation of modern tech, and even if their technology base is primitive and clunky, are nearly as adept in other fields as the rest of the Citadel races. And aside from improvising, they have their own hidden dagger on Mars. The hyperscoop, however the damned thing works, bankrupted a dozen corporations in mere months, and who knows what else they have in their 'Mars Archives.'

Worse, humans and asari have, for the most part, united in a common cause, swaying the balance of power towards the asari even further. They are not blind to what the STG does and out of all the races, are the only ones who devote significant resources (Cerberus, the Silver Legion, etc.) to nothing but countering not only us but the League of Zero.

Of course, the STG has attempted to react to this countering where it is possible, but the High Lords of Sol are not the incompetent fools the turian leadership presents. They are ruthless to the extreme and are the only other race to grasp the idea that socio-cultural slavery or extinction or alien domination are not viable options.

Our attempts to derail human growth have failed mostly due to the fact that humans are also stubborn like turians. While the AIS is laughably inept, they are also fast learners, and their various black-ops groups (a curiously salarian concept if there ever was one) such as Cerberus, Hades, and HANDSHAKE proved to be nearly a match for us. The fact that they don't rely on any one piece of their forces to handle us is further indication they're not worthy of scorn or looking down on.

The thirty years that passed should have proven that they're worthy of respect – the few hints we have of them doing their own version of the Alteration Framework, the brilliant econosabotage of Harper and the cunning funding of the remains of the Remembrance to blunt STG actions against Alliance expansion, and most of all, the brilliant way they played us all into getting a Spectre – these were good solid plays any STG Master would have been proud of.

The fallout (not to mention the inception) of the Benezia Incident took everyone by surprise, although the STG report on the Incident makes it clear our distraction with other events did us no favors. The turian insistence on adding humans and quarians to the Council shattered the delicate balance and is the first sign of something approaching turian political cunning, in that it has reshaped the balance entirely.

Now, instead of being the outlier, there are a variety of outcomes the turians can play. We have never liked quarians and yet are often forced to side with them to counter human-asari political pushes, a stance that results in the turians being the swing vote that decides our course.

This is, of course, intolerable. Clever of the turians, and yet another sign of our own arrogance blinding us to possibility.

Vessi covered the general alien aspects (stupidity, dumbness, and all around moronic idiocy) with enough spittle in the first file. I'm not so dismissive of asari or turians and the fact that he is makes me question if anyone has noticed we are **not** the baddest cake in the bakery and haven't been for some time.

However, I'll focus on what I know about the newest twist to our travails. It should be consulted after reading the first file if only because Vessi is pretty funny at times.

* * *

 **Alien Interaction Guidelines : Human and Quarian**

Vessi had a great point about aliens not being capable of summation in a series of cliché racist stereotypes. This is even more true for the humans, and to some degree for quarians as well. While the asari, volus, and turians all had to survive, humans and quarians are like us in that they faced obliteration and survived.

Never, ever underestimate human or quarian grit. They have endured a lot more pain in very recent times than our brush with the Collapse, the turian Burning, or the asari War of Queens. We have grown soft and they have never had that luxury.

* * *

 _Humans:_

Even among the myriad alien weirdness that we are forced to associate with, humans are something anomalous in many ways. There are so many points of… wrongness… with them that I have to wonder if they, like the asari, were tampered with.

Let me clarify.

All races have outcasts of one kind or another who are _fundamentally different_ from the baseline. Lythari, ardats, turian outcasts, batarian recidivists, drell on Rakhana, volus Depthwalkers, elcor Pure, even the hanar have the Ninety-Four and the Vabo… freaks.

Human outcasts exist due to socioeconomic failure, political differences, religious differences… but they are just like other humans. Their reactions, cultures, and beliefs are no different. There is no part of the race that is discrete from any other part. In that they are, despite their chaotic and wildly hard to follow politics and social stratification, far more 'united' than the damned asari are.

All races have cultures and subcultures. Humans, however, have obliterated many such things (and long before they met any aliens) and yet embrace cultural diversity almost as religion. (The less said about their actual religions the better.) Humans are not like asari and turians in that you can make sweeping statements to cover wide swaths of the race and their cultures are less ways of living than flavors of a stew.

All races have something they are exceedingly good at, and several fields they ignore. Humans on the other hand, want to be good at _everything_ and refuse to accept the primacy of anyone else. More terrifying in my opinion is that they are not the smartest, toughest, fastest, or whatever – but they can do a little bit of everything, in a way we simply _cannot_ match.

A human's primary characteristic is individuality. They prize being 'themselves' and look at conformity as surrender. Humans have logical philosophies and standards but often ignore them utterly, being willing to ignore truth and scientific fact for 'gut instincts' and 'feelings.' Emotional control is seen as unnatural and placing the race before personal desires is rare.

Human heroes are usually not paragons of what it means to be human, but instead, are those who ignored the trends to do something different. By the Collapse, tune into human trideo 'historicals' and watch 'Mr. Rogers' if you want to see something so utterly _alien_ we can't even classify it – and that humans idealize to this day even though the figure in question died well over a century ago.

Humans have a truly violent and bloody history of internal fighting, but never to the extent of turians, drell, or even our own people. Humans felt themselves a warrior race, but shied away from true mass exterminations until very recently, and that was most likely due to resource collapse issues. They are harder on themselves than anyone else and despite their staggering naïveté in many things, they're not without a certain roughly-hewn grace in their refusal to give themselves a pass.

There is and can be no standard definition for a given human. Even large groups can act in surprising (and illogical) fashions for no good reason. This makes profiling and predictions very difficult to make with any accuracy.

When dealing with humans, the primary dividing lines are locational and economic. Humans are split between three rough groups – those who stay in Sol, colonists outside of Sol, and exiles or others who have abandoned the Alliance entirely.

Most humans live in the Sol System, their home system. While some of these humans travel, it is only very rarely any of them leave Alliance Space, and as such, all of their information on aliens comes from two sources – the mess of propaganda that passes as human news, and the interactions they have with aliens who have come to live and mingle with humans.

Humans are, as I said, very different – in their government, some aliens can not only have citizenship, but hold power and even run for offices. Salarians who live in Human Space are almost _always_ going to be a mouth-foaming Lythari, full of goggle-eyed admiration and about as witless as a brain-damaged vorcha.

Thus, most Sol humans will not really be prepared for interacting with normal salarians and will expect you to, sadly, act like one of their friendly neighborhood deviants. As such, teams operating in Alliance Space are allowed to use Lythari branding and genotyping, and hyper-hypnosis programming to embrace such personas until recovery teams move in.

Colonist reactions vary widely. Humans from Bekenstein and Watson have the highest exposure to aliens and are more reasonable in dealing with them than, say, the bloody-handed paranoid survivalists of Mindoir. Colonists are also going to be a lot more leery of salarians since most of their interactions will come from direct interaction with normal salarians on a wide basis. The best methods of interaction are to find a cover in fields humans struggle to fill on colony worlds – engineering, hard math, things of that nature.

Those who have turned their back on the Alliance can be put into simpler groups. Well over a hundred million are now in asari territory and are basically fucktoys and can be ignored except as access points to asari. The hardcore survivalists that make up the so-called 'wildcat' colonies are not going to be friendly at all and should be avoided. The wildcats are nothing, they offer no advantageous positions for us and half of them are religious nutjobs of the highest order of graashit.

Humans outside of those two bins of outcast – explorations types, freethinkers, Omegans, criminals, pirates, what have you – should be examined on a case-by-case basis. Yes, it's boring. I'm old as fuck and I don't complain so neither should you. Time-consuming work on these kinds of humans may give us leads into their black-ops orgs, or ferret out new pirate ports or other crime rings.

Money is also big in human culture. Humans are dominated by a layer of super-rich nobles and another layer of very rich types that have all access to human government. The remainder fall into their what would be middle-class, the working poor, and outright victims. Rich humans (noble or not) will almost never directly associate with salarians and the human Commissariat is carefully watching for such humans to try such a thing.

The poor are the best access points, but proffer little actual use as the rich humans see poorer humans as trash. Ninety-seven percent of all wealth in the Alliance is held by less than four hundred families and controlled by less than a hundred humans. This makes even batarian castes look almost generous, as even the poorest low-caste at least do not starve to death by the thousands every day.

Colonist wealth levels are more evened out, but the colonies themselves are hotbeds of disdain, with richer colonies sneering down their chest at 'poors.' The entire thing is rather distastefully echoing batarian ideals (which is why it's hilarious to make humans admit how much like the batarians they are).

Talking with humans shouldn't be hard. Meaningless conversation masking actual topics is not just common, but almost required in human society, with those who cannot translate or dissemble such empty garbage being seen as disabled. (Vessi's ranting about stupidity is not entirely off target.) Bizarre and seemingly random sub-factors (expression, breath odor, hair style, even things like stance) are non-verbal communication and also vary based on culture.

Humans admire grit and bravery but also admire cleverness. While the High Lords would not be out of place at a dalatrass gathering, a disturbingly large number of humans retain beliefs in honesty, generosity, reciprocity, and optimism even in the current day and age where the only reason we haven't all brutally murdered each other is we're waiting for the right (or for turians, most melodramatic) moment.

So, don't go in cynical. Sarcasm can be good when needed, but overdoing it makes you sound like a bitter cloaca. Snuggle something soft and practice being upbeat for an hour before interacting with humans. Have a swamp-damned drink.

Humans value power in deeds and words, but not cruelty. They chastise themselves for ruining their world, but spent more on both restoring it and keeping ecologically sound practices on all other colonies than anyone else aside from elcor. They seem to think they're a warlike race but have fewer conflicts in their entire history than even our own people did during the age of the Daltriana alone.

Dealing with these confoundingly obtuse juxtapositions requires you to be mentally flexible. Humans are good targets for humor (self-depreciation is best) as well as gushy emotional statements.

A final warning: humans are irrational, murderously obtuse, and dangerous in two situations – when they are backed into a corner with no way out and when young offspring are threatened. The turians found this out the hard way during the storming of Arcturus Station, where at least fifteen percent of infantry boarding losses were due to enraged human civilian parents. When pushed far enough, **all** humans have a willingness to 'go down fighting' or 'rage against the dying of the light' and are very nearly as stubborn as turians.

Review tapes of "Turian 3rd Fleet vs. Solguard" for some examples.

* * *

 _Standard considerations for humans:_

I'll make this simple, there are three rules of horn to keep in mind with humans that will keep you from being an embarrassment to the STG.

First, expect nothing. Some humans will be hostile, others will be friendly, still others will have no real insight in how to deal with a salarian. Do not go in with expectations like you would with asari or turians, as they'll be wrong. Instead, set yourself in a position to ask questions and try to figure out what kind of human you're dealing with.

Second, despite what they think, humans are not all that hard to manipulate once you grasp their motivations. Most humans are focused on the very short-term, from their businesses reporting things once every ninety or so days, to their politicians, to everyday human activities. Long-term planning is something they have to sit down to do – engage them on the here and now and they will ignore the long-term you have already prepared for.

Finally, and most importantly, humans are self-esteem slugs of the highest order. All of them – every last human I've met – is vulnerable to flattery, to being made to feel important, to being told they're smart or insightful or whatever. While this is less true for their professional intelligence officers, none of them are truly immune to it – and here our arrogant declaration of being smart can work in your favor, as if a salarian admires your intelligence you _must_ be pretty smart. Right?

Once again, Vessi's racism isn't wrong, just too vituperative and overlooking of our own flaws. Humans are dumber than a sack full of mud about a lot of things, but unlike almost everyone else, they're aware they're dumb as mud and work to find ways to fix it. People keep underestimating them and keep getting caught off-guard – don't make the same mistake.

* * *

 _Quarians:_

Until recently, most of you simple-minded dolts probably thought the quarians were annoyances. I made reports twenty years ago stating that simple, subtle, and quiet support of quarians could give us unparalleled access to areas we had no presence in as well as allowing us to take advantage of quarian engineering and developmental skills, but was ignored.

That turned out just spectacular, didn't it? Pack of Collapse-damned fools, the lot of your superiors who led us to this cack-up should have been made into krogan omelets at birth.

Quarians are often called out as being similar to turians, which is true in the same sense that river dragons are similar to a plasma reactor assembly – both will kill you extremely dead if you go poking at them. Quarians have a lot of things in common with turians, true – but the differences matter more. Turians focus on the whole, the tribe, but also their place within – they have ambitions to rise up the meritocracy and to be important and like a Praetor. They want to show bravery and (to steal a phrase from the humans) 'badassitude.' Quarians don't care about any of that. Glory is childish and rank is seen more as a trial, and duty as a reward. Their Admirals are some of the most haggard-sounding worn-out bastards I've ever seen.

For the most part, quarians aren't good targets for the STG. They are (by nature of the entire galaxy spurning them for three centuries) given very much to insular and protective isolation. Why wouldn't they be, when they've been spat on and looked down on even by batarians? Even quarian exiles aren't going to do anything likely to injure other quarians or the Fleet. In hundreds of years of history the only quarian who's acted against his people is Golo of Omega and I'm pretty sure that's because he's nearly as crazy as P.

Quarians stick together and, due to the nature of how they organize themselves, aren't very internally competitive. From what we've gathered, they're split up into ranks of importance – the military types on top, scouts, scientists, engineers, and the like in the middle, and everyone else at the bottom. The flip side of this is that the higher up you are in quarian society, the more likely you are to die in battle or something, and that they're remarkably egalitarian when it comes to living standards. They don't have ambitions outside of maybe starting a family or, at the most, having a ship or gun or what have you named after their family.

Dividing quarians along these lines for infiltration is useless as they tend to see their ranks as both justified and useful. A quarian in the Civilian Fleet who is a janitor is not going to be consumed with jealousy over the lifestyle of a captain, since the differences in their levels of wealth, lifestyle, and living space is minimal – the leader of the Admirals has three rooms to himself and an extra day of time in the clean room a year. The janitor is going to be _happy_ to be a janitor, to have a clear and simple task in the Fleet.

It's absolutely maddening.

Most quarians that would be vulnerable to our sort of manipulating end up exiled in short order and thus, are useless for gaining insight (or control) of the Fleet. More than that, the exiles are depressed and suicidal in many cases, making them poor investments. Worse, most of them got exiled because they're unwise, shallow morons – but also because they didn't muster up to the quarian standard.

I'm sure none of you younglings has any idea what it must be like to have your _entire species_ say you aren't worthy of even existing, but it leaves crippling mental scars.

So why even bother focusing on them if they're impenetrable? Quarians aren't manipulatable in the individual sense because, to a large degree, individuality isn't that important to them. Unlike turians, they aren't obsessed with honor or valor, instead they're obsessed with safety and survival.

And one other small item – revenge on the geth and retaking their homeworld. And that's where you'll find your methods of using the quarians.

I won't go into detail about quarian history – it's a depressing read of just what short-sighted bigotry and a lack of vision as to what a bunch of machine killers could do if you just left them to their own devices for centuries instead of killing them off. We should have helped the quarians and then used that to sink our horns into whatever they knew instead of writing them off, and the Benezia Incident and following Geth War have shown what a stupid idea it was to ignore the problem.

But we're in the here and now and our past failures give us opportunities today. All quarians hate the geth, and getting quarian groups, businesses, or Fleet assets to work with us if the goal is destroying geth is surprisingly easy.

Quarians – both in groups and the individual – long to be accepted. They want to feel like they're part of something and the humans reaching out to them even before the Battle of the Citadel was key in their trade agreements. We never got along with the little ghrangas – their idiot focus on 'getting things done' led to them never double-checking their work and the geth, and their irritating ability to come up with new and off-the-hut technologies from nowhere was every bit as suspicious as the asari doing it.

Use that history to your advantage when you deal with quarians, as having a salarian come to them for help is a huge ego trip and one that makes them less careful about what they say or agree to do.

Quarians can be very stubborn (like turians) and brave, but look at the universe in a much darker light than the turians. They pride themselves on not having the internal conflicts that most other races have and are even more proud that they do not participate in the shadow wars that the asari and our own people have done for millennia.

Young quarians tend to act like a young breeder in her first heat surrounded by young males, a bit shy and overwhelmed. Sometimes it's even true. But even the damned kids on Pilgrimage have two solid years of military training and are harder, stronger, and mentally more durable than most adult salarians. The young ones are not as bitter and cynical as older quarians, however, and are more approachable.

Aiding quarians in Pilgrimage can pay off, as quarians are desperate for allies and have a well-known and deep sense of gratitude. One reason that irritating thug Edat Kurass is untouchable is that he gave away a damned planet to the quarians years ago – turns out they couldn't colonize it due to the lifeforms on it and whatnot, but they sold the coords to the turians and in one fell swoop convinced the turians they could and did follow laws and at the same time, got enough cash to retrofit their Heavy Fleet.

They aren't dumb. They'll use whatever's presented to get an advantageous position, but it's for the good of the race, not themselves. If you can make a push using that, you can find them very cooperative, even if they know full well you intend something – as long as it won't hurt the Fleet.

The quarians on their new colony world are not worth going after – access to the planet is completely forbidden to all non-quarians for any reason. The only ones who can even get to the surface are a pair of heavily cybernetic turian Spectres who have agreed to full body sterilization and encounter suits at all times.

A final aspect: quarians are very useful in getting into human mindsets. Humans have this concept, 'underdogs,' which translates very poorly – a dog being a long-term domesticated pet/hunting animal that they consider their best friends. The 'underdog' concept is one of humans wanting those who are seen as down and out and downtrodden to beat the odds and succeed. It is – despite vast gaps in their various subcultural views – a nearly universal human response, and one the demure, self-effacing and nervous quarians can easily evoke in most humans.

(As fitting a cousin race of the fuck-hungry asari, human sexual deviance likes the body shape of quarians as it emphasizes broad shoulders on the males and wider hips on females, which are some kind of secondary erotic qualifier. Don't ask. Just… don't ask, and don't look it up on Fornax, trust me.)

* * *

 _Standard considerations for quarians:_

First, don't ever attempt any kind of cold contact. Quarians should always be approached with a plan and research in place, and they are absolute masters at body reading and gestures. They also have, I am sure, accumulated large amounts of information on the races of the galaxy and train their children in this intently. Have an idea of how you are going to win them over before you ever move forward.

Second, assume quarians operating away from the Fleet who aren't youngsters are exiles. Some of them will claim otherwise, but it is extremely rare, especially single quarians. (Some small groups do perform engineering work, so it's not entirely impossible, but in that case, there will also be at least one Migrant Fleet Marine with them. No Marine, one hundred percent exiles.) As I stated, exiles are basically useless.

Finally – and most crucially – remember that quarians have no official or even unofficial intelligence or espionage services. They don't care or bother with infiltrating or spying and are very good at making sure that they don't need to be concerned about stopping it. Their comms security is immaculate, their infowar is always better, and hacking them is the height of arrogant hubris likely to end badly. Their only real vulnerability is finding more help for their race, so if your plan doesn't rotate around that you're going to fail.


	4. Sub-file AYT-003 : Drell, Vorcha

**_STG Field Manual_**

 _Subfile AYT-004 : Alien Interaction with other restricted races (drell, vorcha)_

* * *

 _Prepared by Master Agent Unai, exploration specialist_

 _Compiled by Master Field Agent Kossi, Executive Agent SOLUTHUS, Senior Agent Soril, Senior Agent Dagama, Master Agent Kolar (retired), and Master Agent Unai (retired)_

 _This is a Virshan-Orange_ _file. Distribution is for senior (non-FCA/non-FAC) agents and specialists only._

 **An opening statement**

I am Master Field Agent Unai. I am no longer active duty STG, I advise the SIX and the RRC on STG initiatives for the most part. I am, I suppose, a curious choice for writing any part of the doctrine that will guide a new generation of agents as they safeguard the future of the salarian people.

In short, I am retired because my recommendations were not seen as fitting with the goals of the STG when they were made. I am hardly the only agent this has happened to – the vitriol of Vessi and the tired sarcasm of old Kolar are more of the same. Vessi is vitriolic because he has suffered personally due to STG Masters and Master Agents not heeding his words. Kolar is sarcastic and tired because he has seen the patterns that lead to failures repeat themselves without the Group as a whole ever learning the lesson.

Perhaps that is the nature of wisdom. All of us have had ideas, concepts, or recommendations that were ignored – and then, when we turned out to be right, had our contributions continued to be ignored and our recommendations taken advantage of without apology or remuneration. It is not wisdom to be 'right' – even a malfunctioning and broken time-measure is correct once a day. It is not wisdom to anticipate an action before it comes to fruition – any fool knows lighting a fuse will set it to burning.

Wisdom is in knowing how to phrase what you know, what you are seeing, what your experience tells you in a fashion from which not only do others benefit but grasp how you were able to do so – and use it to improve themselves. In that light, I suppose allowing me to write this and teach the next generation is a form of apology and acknowledgment.

No matter. If I have learned anything in my long years, it is that clinging to disappointment, betrayal or loss only magnifies and deepens the damage it does to you and your very psyche.

Do not let bitter emotion or old grudges stand in the way of performing the special task we have all given our lives to undertake. It does not matter if you are cast aside, or feted and honored. We are fleeting as smoke on the wind, but the salarian people and their future is forever as long as we maintain our focus.

You could even argue you should never let such things darken your outlook. If the Wheel carries you to a new place to stand, you should walk forward, not retrace your steps – the latter will only have you repeat your sorrow and loss, for a circle has no end or beginning. Find a new path, and walk it with the lessons you have learned instead.

In a way, the races I have been given are perfect examples of that. Both the drell and the vorcha are often overlooked and ignored, seen as the fish-lures of more powerful and dangerous forces. One is dismissed as being so utterly mercenary that they will sell themselves to both sides of a conflict and kill each other without hesitance, and the other are seen as barbaric sub-sapients with no culture or redeeming value.

Yet both, I suspect, were simply a victim of internal collapses that were cruelly and competently taken advantage of. Both also fell victim to clinging to what they lost or what broke them rather than setting a new path for themselves, and now both are trapped in the wake of larger forces. That does not mean, however, that they should be ignored, or looked down on.

For as the humans taught the turians, the wild animal is the most dangerous when cornered and with no route of flight.

* * *

 **Alien Relations and Interpretations**

Ask three sophonts their opinions on the drell, and you will get three flavors of the same answer: hanar slave-soldiers, or immoral and uncaring mercenaries. Ask the same three of their insight into the vorcha and you will get three versions of disgusted disdain.

One rule of observation I have noted over the years is that the more widely disparate groups with no shared backgrounds share nearly identical views on something, the more likely it is that said view is a function of lack of knowledge rather than intelligent perception. While logic would seem to suggest the inverse, the truth is simpler. As the saying in siari goes, nothing exists in a vacuum except nothing.

The drell's ambient persona was a function of the losses to them in the Refusal Wars (and in the Refusal itself, though few remember any details). They were mysterious and terrifying ghosts, appearing inside warships as if by magic, red-robed nightmares slaughtering all around them before suiciding in horrific anti-matter explosions with shouts of devotion to their gods.

The discovery of Rakhana only made the image more pitiable and unclean, the ragged and savage tribes engaged in brutal warfare on the ruined hell-world made unfathomably vile by knowledge of their history. Genetic modification, multiple racial genocides, thousands of years of endless war over religious trivialities – all of it made the drell as to be either bloodthirsty savages or murdering lunatics, and possibly both.

The reality, of course, was much different – but the drell embraced this false presentation. They are a race who sees bare truth as both dangerous and complex, and are masters of letting their enemies demoralize themselves. The drell who serve the hanar body and soul could care less of the thoughts of non-hanar, and the mercenary drell who sell themselves to the highest bidder see such a dark reputation as a business asset.

I will not overstate that some of the perception of the drell is indeed accurate, but their masters the hanar are – as we learned to our sorrow – very good at presenting themselves as weak, drifty and helpless when they are anything but. The drell no doubt followed this ideal.

The vorcha, on the other hand, are more victims of circumstance than any dark plans or conscious work. Their home was a planet of violent weather, toxic landscapes, polluted plains warped by endless hellstorms. The vorcha evolved to endure and survive regardless of the cost, and their society had no time for the weak frivolities the rest of the civilized galaxy wastes its time on. There are those who decry their primitive art, their lack of philosophy and high technology, their simple-minded nature and fascination with fire, and their very lack of real racial ambition – without realizing how stupid expecting such things must be.

How impressive would the salarians be, I wonder, if some other alien had surveyed us in the days of prehistory when we speared fish and ate rotten carcasses, slinking along mudbanks and building heaps of dirt and leaves as homes? The vorcha are unfortunate enough to be caste into the limelight of interstellar attention when they were in the middle of their Bronze Age – hardly their fault.

And yet people overlook the innate stability of vorcha. Their Bosses are fearfully intelligent, almost anomalously so, capable of mastering alien languages in weeks and unifying their warbands via not only charisma and physical power but inspiration and instruction.

More than that though, the vorcha are – in my opinion, which many disagree with – potential incarnate. They are a young enough species that they can be shaped to fit any political or social-economic strata. Despite being an emotional people overall, they do not care about doctrines or causes or sentimental baggage that weighs down the humans and quarians, while they are free of the innate arrogance of our own people, the brutalistic unity of the turians and the social corruption of the asari.

Vorcha work hard, do not betray one another, rarely if ever lie (although they understand the concept just fine), do not fear death and see honor as stupid. Like salarians, they see morality as mostly a function of how others perceive it, not an innate value. And while they are certainly ignorant and superstitious about a great many things, they do not cling to such – with the exception of fire, once something is explained to them as mundane, they place no special value on it, unlike many other races I could name.

How does any of this apply to you, an agent of the STG? Good question.

Drell and vorcha have the somewhat unique property of being noticeable _yet overlooked._ No one who sees a mercenary drell impatiently waiting for the person he is guarding to finish chatting will think much of him, or of a small group of vorcha in work clothes trundling after a volus. Even on the wildest planets, the sight of some batarian, turian or krogan with vorcha sidekicks won't draw a single inhalation, and a drell can fit in almost anywhere. (Exception: Systems Alliance territory.)

This makes them almost foolproof couriers, delivery drops, people to pass orders to other agents, secondary support personnel or even distractions. Even better, they are absolutely perfect when you want to conduct surveillance or scouting on a target or location – even _if_ they are detected, "everyone" knows salarians despise vorcha as primitives and drell as sellouts.

Keep this rule in mind: use the enemy's assumptions against them, and always turn biases of your own into errors for those who assume.

Secondly, the vorcha as a whole are being heavily invested in by the volus, who are never known for making bad or poorly researched investments. The volus saw something in the vorcha we overlooked, and I do not wish to wait for them to spring such a surprise on us before sounding out the dangers. Utilizing vorcha in dangerous STG ops as disposable assets, distractions, or as I mentioned above, covert observation units, also allows us to assess and measure.

* * *

 **Alien Interaction Guidelines : Drell and Vorcha**

 _(This file only covers drell and vorcha. Asari and turians are in AYT-001, humans and quarians can be found in subfile AYT-002, and volus and batarians are in AYT-004.)_

Amusingly, drell and vorcha follow many of the same rules of engagement, although they are nothing alike socially, mentally, or culturally. I would listen carefully to Koral's admonishment about stereotypes and assumptions, as there are vorcha who conceal a frightfully sharp intellect behind hissing words and broken language, and drell who see their contract as not something to be sold but a near-religious duty that cannot be broken by mere money.

The common points are as follows:

First, both vorcha and drell admire _endurance,_ be that of physical hardship, mental trauma, emotional harm or merely ability to fight past pain and loss. To the drell, it is a measure of one's understanding of themselves – or as the saying they have goes, "To experience pain is to understand the nuance, to be free of such is only knowing half the tale". Vorcha, on the other hand, believe endurance is a mark of willpower and tenacity, as the Bosses are famous due to their ability to adapt more than once and to endure almost impossible levels of pain without showing any distress.

Second, both vorcha and drell define themselves as _observers_ – for drell, as eternal outsiders watching a dance they can follow but not join, and for vorcha, as waiting for a time to sleep without dreaming, to end their physical lives for a spiritual one in a non-religious sense. Both cultures believe most of our actions are merely the impulses and instincts of 'meat bodies' and that the spirit or soul (the term is particularly unclear in the vorcha wording, 'inner fire') is matured or educated by suffering and tribulation. As observers they have no staked interest in anything the Citadel Races value, be that influence, power, or our culture.

Finally, both drell and vorcha have an instinct to defer and follow more powerful beings. While vorcha Bosses are indeed incredible leaders they are also clever enough and wise enough to grasp there is more to be had in following the Citadel Races and doing work for them than demanding to be measured on an equal basis. The drell, amusingly enough, have the view that their civilization destroyed itself and proved so unwise that they should not and cannot be _allowed_ to govern themselves, even in many cases on a personal level.

For the drell, given their eidetic memory and powerful emotional states, this is perhaps wise.

* * *

 _Drell:_

When dealing with drell, a few points should be kept uppermost in mind and in action.

Drell strive for dignity and gravitas – rarely, if ever, are they free-spirited or prone to frivolities, at least in public or with those they do not trust. The more polite and professionally they are treated, the more they are likely to listen to your words.

Additionally, drell are not adventuresome in most cases. It takes some time to earn both their trust and their interest, and this is best achieved by showing dependability. A drell who has worked with a given employer for a decade and never had any reason to complain will be much more warm, friendly and trusting. Earning the gratitude of a drell is akin to the life-oaths among the krogan – a bond that does not sever unless one of the bonders dies.

Drell, however, are complicated persons who live in a society that states one's body is a sinful object that drives actions and complications to distract and corrupt the soul. Drell adhere to this in a varying amount of ways : some drell (particularly independents) judge themselves and focus mostly on staying neutral and professional. Others, the more risk-taking ones found with alien spouses or working directly for aliens and not the hanar, are more relaxed about it in general but tend to fixate very hard on one or two aspects of such corruption.

ALWAYS seek to understand what a given drell sees as distasteful in transactions and what they avoid in their personal lives. For many, you can actually ask them directly if you are engaging them in a contract for hire, and they will appreciate the courtesy of you asking. Others are more closely held and if that seems to be the case, statements that they should notify you or stop an action if it distresses them will be warmly agreed to.

Drell are not romantic or highly sexual beings. They despise games of chance, prefer poetic and artistic contemplation, are neat and tidy by nature and are not given to expressions of the strong emotions they feel. Humans call them 'stoic' and asari call them 'ansiaric', which are Collapse-be-damned opposites yet somehow both fit. They see enduring hardship as a badge of pride and maturity, but at the same time they evince no loyalties to one another simply because they are the same race.

Drell will treasure a long-lasting friend who is an alien far more than just another random drell. They have no sense of racial pride or unity and – this is crucial – absolutely NO instinct to sacrifice for the race, or even their nation. While they are protective of family members, such is only true really of siblings towards each other and females towards younglings.

Keep in mind that drell are not scaly salarians. Despite seeming much like us in features, they don't prize or care about logic, induction, or intellect. They are often reflective on old memories, sometimes so far as to lose themselves in them, and as a result see everything as a waking dream. They don't care about dominance or threats, and in fact the concept of threat is exciting to them, not a source of dread.

Older drell are more given to introspection than younger ones, and are much harder to read and interpret. Never forget they are ALL eidetic when it comes to memory and that they will remember every nuance of expression, tone of voice, and exactly what you say or did not say at a later date – and that Citadel Law recognizes asari link imprints of a drell's memory as legally binding evidence.

* * *

 _Standard considerations for drell:_

Always assume that a drell is a self-defined unit. Drell rarely if ever bond together outside of the Remembrance Dancers, family units, or military groups. Drell do not pay attention to 'trends' and disdain the very concept of following another out of any reason but a fair exchange.

Drell admire those who can express themselves in a concise, dignified fashion. Militarism, crude language, or lack of preparation and intelligence are seen as reckless or foolish, while attempting to play on emotional stakes, guilt or common causes is seen as childish and insulting. Treat drell as you would the elderboy who advises the dalatrass and you will have the right mindset.

Drell are physically terrifying. They are far stronger than their slight frames would suggest, nearly as strong as turians, but extremely fast and agile – almost as agile we are. Furthermore, drell are tougher than salarians – even in a straight fight, they will more often than not be more than a match.

Drell do not like damp, wet environments and despise the smell of oceans. I have found hosting them in air-exchange rooms, life support rooms, or rooms equipped with dehumidifiers puts them at ease on an unconscious level, while damp rooms make them irritable and nervous.

* * *

 _Vorcha:_

For the most part, vorcha are... elemental. They admire simple things, they pursue simple goals, they evince simple but powerful emotions and lead mostly simple lives. That, ironically, does not make them simple to understand, much less manipulate.

Vorcha are pack creatures, who are inclined to stick with a pack they know from youth. This is not usually blood relations – vorcha are birthed in piles among multiple mothers and raised communally. This sort of environment builds a subtle but potent sense of bonds between vorcha who know each other a long time, and they do not – ever, in more than sixty years of observation – break such bonds to betray one another.

That does not mean that bond-sibs will not murder one another in a moment of passion, but they do not plot against each other for money or mates or things of that nature.

Vorcha see the greater galactic society as something akin to a selection of Bosses. In vorcha culture, each vorcha must determine what Boss to follow, based on the Boss's physical power, charisma, ability to induce both fear and bravery, and most of all what the Boss demonstrates as his 'fire'.

'Fire' (a very repetitive concept in the vorcha language) in this instance stands for a mix of goals, ability to endure hardship, and interest. The vorcha see the 'fire' of the volus, for example, as 'fire-that-consumes-the-unmet-needs', while the fire of the krogan is 'fire-that-heats-the-blood-and-laughs-at-sleep-without-dreams'.

Vorcha have extremely convoluted methods for determining the type of 'fire' that interests or excites them, and follow accordingly. It is often easiest to manipulate large amounts of vorcha by focusing on the Bosses, but keep in mind Bosses are not only much smarter than the average vorcha but clever in social dealings and surprisingly swift to sniff out betrayal.

When dealing with vorcha, speak simply and with force. Do not rely on concepts such as subterfuge or attempt to mislead, simply state what you want and why you want it. Vorcha will either name a price to follow along or, if interested enough, ask how they can gain such 'fire' for themselves.

Vorcha have no real need for money – they use their own teeth and horns as money among their own kind, while 'civilized' vorcha all have free-to-use accounts with the Volus Central Bank of Irune. That being said, vorcha adore weapons, thick armor, paints, decorative items and exotic forms of meat, and will use money to obtain such things as the whim strikes them.

Vorcha do not understand the idea of 'spying' but phrasing requests in terms of hunting works very well. Vorcha are actually very good at being quiet and unobtrusive when they want to, and have a complicated non-verbal communication language involving slaps, hand gestures and lip movements that allow them to communicate unbeknownst to people watching.

Vorcha hate weakness of any kind, but their idea of weakness is 'weakness of fire'. Someone who believes strongly in their goal and is willing to sacrifice anything to obtain it are highly admired, while a strong and powerful person with no real sense of purpose would be seen as a weak fool. Goals that focus on large groups, national levels or racial identity confuses the vorcha.

There is more I could say, but I have found that the vorcha are curiously polymorphic in how they react as well as what impresses them. Having rules of horn on hand to quickly deal with aliens is always a good practice, but with vorcha improvisation and creativity are more important than rote memorizing the best ways to talk at them.

* * *

 _Standard considerations for vorcha:_

Do not treat Bosses the same as you would regular vorcha – treat them with a level of deference mixed with a clear display that you are also strong and wise. Bosses can smell some emotional states from krogan and asari (and possibly humans) – it is not out of the bounds of logic to assume we are the same. Applying fashion-scent, asari siaja or human cologne will throw this off (and is hilarious to watch them try to figure out.)

All vorcha will listen respectfully if you offer them meat and water as a token of appreciation for their time. The meat _must always_ be uncooked – vorcha eat cooked meats only if they were roasted over a fire they themselves used. A sealed slice of prime Jakani Sixstep will suffice. Vorcha do not like alcoholic drinks but are fans of asari sheerwater, batarian scent tea, and human lemonade. (The latter is appallingly caustic and will cause chemical burns if you drink it!)

Vorcha are respectful of storytellers and shaman – engaging the services of krogan wayspeakers or shaman will usually allow you to win the attention of many vorcha if the krogan in question is presented as an elder of wisdom and not a warleader.

* * *

 **Final Words:**

Vorcha and drell are useful tools. Never forget, however, that such tools are also living, thinking beings, with families, dreams, and ambitions of their own. Too many arrogant agents have sacrificed mercenary agents or duped victims, only to fall at the hands of enraged relatives – or worse, a Remembrance Dancer in the case of drell.

Utilized properly and with respect (which costs nothing but time and to lose some of your ego, hardly a bad thing) vorcha and drell can be devastating and unseen weapons that leave our enemies seeking a foe that doesn't exist. Keep in mind my points on how you and your ideas may be ignored, then used without apology, and fixate on how that feels, on how it angers you and dishonors your dalatrasses.

Now realize that misusing the vorcha and drell inflicts the very same thing upon them. We have no need to sink to that level, leave it for the batarians and the asari.

Respect and politeness cost less than revenge from unhappy relatives.


	5. Sub-file AYT-MERC-001 : Mercenaries

**A/N:** _Literally so bored at work during meetings I wrote this. Editing Gang did not review.  
_

* * *

 _ **Subfile AYT-MERC-001 : Alien Interactions, Mercenary and Private Security Forces**_

* * *

 _Prepared by Senior Agent Dagama, reporting specialist._

 _Compiled by Master Field Agent Kossi, Executive Agent SOLUTHUS, Senior Agent Soril, Senior Agent Dagama, Master Agent Kolar (retired), and Master Agent Unai (retired)_

 _This is a_ _ **Virshan-Orange**_ _file. Distribution is for senior (non-FCA/non-FAC) agents and specialists only._

* * *

My name is Senior Agent Dagama. You have not heard of me. That is to be expected, as my task is to infiltrate groups of interest and report back on them.

Understanding alien cultures and social reactions is all very well and good, but the ugly truth is that we in the STG live and die more by snap reactions and unexpected complications than knowing it is good to bare your teeth at humans but not to drell. We are often matched against enemy military forces, intelligence units, pirates, bandits, and local police or C-SEC.

But many of those groups can be bypassed, bribed, distracted, or outright defeated. The more pressing danger is the the fact that mercenary units - both sponsored and freelance - continue to proliferate, making it much harder to operate with a free hand of deniable... acts.

I will spend some time covering alien mercenary groups. I am neither impressed nor disgusted by aliens, nor do I attach moralizing, personal opinion, or racism to my interpretation. If some of you decide to move into Active Infiltration, you will also cultivate this sense of emotional centering. As such, I am aware my words may be seen as dry, since I do not possess Vessi's sharp wit and sharper tongue.

Mercenary work is seen as exciting and an adventure for most dissatisfied youths in many races - asari maiden clanless, expatriated humans, turian outcasts, and the like. While earlier merc groups were usually monoracial in structure, modern day mercenaries employ asari, salarians, turians, humans, volus, and the occasional drell or krogan. Being familiar with these groups requires you first to grasp why you are being trained in this fashion - the other aspects that matter are more complex, which I will explain at a later chapter.

* * *

 **Aliens : Mercenaries, Private Security Forces, Independent Operators and Privateers**

The STG is not, as other agents have noted, a diplomatic group. Nor are we a police force.

Unfortunately, you will soon discover that we are deployed on many Special Tasks that require delicacy, intrigue, or outright infiltration to support both diplomatic and policing tasks.

The biggest and most dangerous river-bank to cross in these dealings is with the moss-thick actions of alien mercenary groups. Most of these units are motivated solely by profit, but some have moral, cultural, religious or commercial overtones. Others are bound more by sponsorship making profit immaterial and approach the professionalism and danger of special forces units. Still others are little more than rabble assembled to distract us from a more important target.

There are roughly four tiers of such organizations:

 _Private Sponsored Forces:_ The best equipped, best trained and most dangerous forces you will meet along this line of military unit is the PSF. Usually described as 'private security', 'corporate security', 'enforcement' or some other meta-legal jargon, these are hardened military units, equipped with the best money can buy and mostly staffed by ex-military or ex-intelligence types. PSF's receive equipment, ships and money from a single or multiple private sources – corporations, wealthy isolates, colonial governors, and the like. They cannot (usually) be bribed except at the individual level, and their loadout and training ensure they are the riskiest to take on.

PSF's are most often seen providing dedicated security functions or high-impact strike functions. To use these on lesser tasks is seen as a waste of time.

 _Corporate Mercenary Entities:_ Four of the Big Five (Blue Suns, Elanus Risk Control, Ura-Clan Militant Security, Katarian Talon Force) are actually corporations setup with boards, stocks, company policies and the like. These are all strictly for-profit forces, usually having the ability to fulfill both long-term contracts as well as short duration actions or requests. There are many smaller CME's as well, but most are modeled off the same structural plan. CME's business is only as good as their trustworthy nature, so breaking contacts and/or accepting bribes in the furtherance of damaging their contract terms is unlikely to be possible. The bigger CME's can afford to hire ex-military personnel and afford expensive armor, mechs, combat vehicles and the like, but only the very largest can field their own transports or starships – most rely on hauler services.

CME's range the gamut from nigh-unto special forces quality (Katarian Talon) to barely above the former Batarian State Guard (LPI Security). The most common use of such is security, garrison, police or enforcement duties – only a few can handle pure military strikes.

 _Independent Mercenary Forces:_ Basically self-funded, these groups do not have a formal corporate structure, and usually have 'contract offices' based in the Citadel and other important areas while maintaining their headquarters in the Traverse or the Terminus. IMF's come in all forms – religious security groups, private bully boys, private police security, anti-riot, anti-Hazmat, and a dozen forms besides. Smaller and less well equipped than CME's or PSF's, these independent forces are the most likely to have other motives beyond pure profit.

As IMFs specialize on a small scale for many different tasks, the only broad-based generalization one can make is that they are far more ready to accept renumeration or bribes and abandon a contract for something more lucrative. As such, when contracted by outside forces, most do not use them outside their specialty.

 _Privateers (Corsairs):_ The humans came up with a concept they term 'commercial raiding', which is at its core a mix of legalized piracy and deputization of independents. In short, Corsairs are private merchant ships who are armed and given squads of ex-Marines to act as bait for pirates, or are dedicated older warships given a commission to hunt pirates and enemy merchant ships. The goal of these groups is capture of ships and to make the cost of piracy on human ships unacceptably high and to cripple the economies of those who support such pirates.

The Corsairs are the official unit sponsored by the Systems Alliance, with Letters of Marque from their High Lords. Several other copy-cat groups also exist, and at least one turian hastatim unit has taken up the practice as well. As privateers have no real funding, most of their equipment varies wildly depending on what prizes and ships they have taken. Their ground forces are almost always focused on boarding operations and are ill-suited and poorly equipped for other operations. On the other hand, they have wide access to ships, sometimes up to heavy cruiser levels, and are thus far more dangerous and mobile than any other kind of mercenary units.

* * *

 **Considerations: Mercenary Units in general**

As with most aliens we encounter, the focus of many mercenary is more often drowned in braggadocio and posturing (based on culture) than any professional concerns. This is not universal, however, and mercenary units of all kinds have several advantages and disadvantages besides a fixation on firepower and 'badassery'.

First, remember that the alien is not salarian even if they employ salarians. I am sure to most of you this seems like the most hollow-horned statement ever made, but it should be kept uppermost in your thoughts. All mercenary units with the exception of Eclipse rarely if ever have salarians as upper-level command figures, and most salarians in mercenary units are either Black Rim expatriates, Free Sexuality yindo deviants, or lythari with both thumbs up their cloaca. They will not be focused on mobility and reactivity but on firepower, defense, and profit (or accomplishing a mission). This lack of flexibility is the key weakness of almost any mercenary unit. Small unit actions against merc teams should employ exotic tactics, unconventional equipment, and off-the-creek movements to baffle and stymie opponents. While professional military units are all hardened against EMP, poison gas, and short duration black nano, few mercenary units are.

Second, almost all mercenary units – from a ragged group of pirate hunters in basic gear to a top-tier Blue Suns Omega Fireteam – suffer the same three weaknesses in doctrine. Mercenaries are either focused on offensive or defensive operations, usually not both in one units. Mercenaries are usually not equipped with repair units, effective comms control, or top-tier medical equipment, meaning attrition and chip-endurance tactics can cripple them over time. Finally, mercenaries rely on information brokers and other sources for intel and planning, which is an excellent way to derail their operations into a trap.

Finally, with the noted exception of Drell units (which require their own chapter), mercenary units are almost always formed around and lead by charismatic figures of some power. The Blue Suns was founded by Zaeed Masanni, one of the deadliest humans alive, with the backing of a High Caste exile, two influential turians and a wealthy human. Eclipse has been organized around the cult of Jona Sederis and her string of salarian and krogan lovers for literally centuries. The Blood Pack, the Relentless, the Six Sins Collective, the Rattled Exhalation – all of these units are built around a central figure or figures. Termination of these leaders will splinter the group and ensure infighting or collapse. If that doesn't occur, it is very likely that the leader held tight control over finances and contacts and the unit will at least be crippled or neutralized in the short term.

* * *

 **Considerations: Mercenary Contracts and Employers**

Most mercenary units are deployed into one of a set of common uses for such groups. Again, mercenaries are the most valuable units for the price in limited circumstances – low availability of government units, risky operations, deniable operations, low-importance garrison work, or out of Citadel operations.

 _GARRISON:_ A full thirty five percent of all mercenary work falls into this category. Garrison duty is non-police security and protection of a facility or location, ranging from a single building to entire planets. Most garrison contracts include room and board, fueling, basic medical and repair service, an omni-gel allowance, food and entertainment vouchers, and clear lines of communication.

Garrison units are designed to repel pirate attacks, gang warfare, and deter slavers or other groups. Most such contracts are done by corporations protecting valuable resources such as eezo, platinum, omnifactury equipment, DRM wrapping machines, or communications gear. Many outlying colonies that are unable to obtain government military forces also hire garrison units to stiffen or train colonial militia and deter attacks.

Garrison duty is usually boring. Most units assigned to such are lower-end combatants with basic gear and little training. They are not trained in any form of counter-espionage and have low to no info-war capability – an STG cell unable to elude a group without detection should be recycled as feedstock for river lizards.

 _POLICE AUGMENTATION:_ Another common contract, police augmentation is usually found on more contentious planets and systems. Basically, mercenaries are hired as heavy police and anti-riot units. You find many contracts for this in the Terminus and the Rims, as well as the Traverse – but also in outlying turian, human and occasionally krogan colonies. These contracts are also offered in times of evacuation operations, to ensure smooth movement of refugees to evac ships and to prevent looting or riots.

Police mercenary work usually involves non-lethal weapons, patrol duty, and at least a smattering of medical gear to heal those wounded in riots or evacuations. On the plus side, they are not equipped for heavy combat, and since these are almost always planetside contracts, do not have environmental gear or sealed suits, making all chemical and biological agents viable.

On the downside, some police merc units have intermediate info-war capacity, and most have good comms monitoring skills and even some specialized equipment. Most merc units who take this type of work are specialists in doing so and are fairly formidable.

 _FORCE RECON:_ A contract specifying the reconnaissance and force analysis of hostile or enemy territory, this type of merc contract is fairly rare, as only a small number of very dangerous companies offer it. Recon teams of mercs are highly mobile, lightly armored but with stealth capacity, and very well equipped. Often ex-special forces or professional infiltrators, these units are small but very fast, very skilled at moving light and obtaining information. Master-class infowar specialists and biotic specialists are common.

A dedicated Force Recon unit is the very worst matchup a standard STG team can face, as they will almost certainly employ at least one ex-STG member somewhere in the company and will have at least a limited understanding of STG tactics and plans. Even moreso than when countering standard merc, reliance on surprise tactics and not following normal STG procedure may be needed.

 _DATA SECURITY:_ Some merc units, particularly the Blue Suns and Screams of Digital Thunder, specialize in extranet, intranet, comms and infowar mercenary security. Units like this have a wide array of comms specialists, hackers, data-tracers, infowar engineers, and mech or drone experts. Most data security mercenary units are employed by corporate forces on independent exclaves or by wealthy industrialists who are paranoid about outside violation.

While the mercenary units who focus on this sort of thing solely are not very well equipped or prepared for battle, do not underestimate them in the slightest. The Blue Suns Digital Legion is the single most feared infowar and datahax group in the galaxy and has even penetrated our security multiple times. Larger groups like the Suns can leverage more conventional military units to cover their data teams. Smaller units will rely on mechs, drones and automated defenses.

These teams tend to rely on lightweight armor (often augmented by omni-armor), submachine guns, light drone packs, and expensive custom omni-tools.

 _ASSAULT – RAID:_ Many smaller units are used as the lead elements of short-term assault operations, where the goal is to not hold onto a location but to raid, damage defenses, or destroy a target. As such, most such mercenary units taking such contracts are tightly defined by the requisite elements to complete the task – heavily armed, thick armor, a focus on kinetics and explosives, and speed.

Eclipse is by far the most terrifying at this sort of assault, with highly mobile asari utilizing both heavy explosive weapons along with biotic blasts while relying on barriers and Wall invocations to deflect even anti-tank counterfire. Smaller units will usually rely on multiple squads of armored infantry with heavy machine guns and anti-material weapons, with a single squad operating an anti-tank or missile weapon.

Raids are, by definition, going after a single target. In some cases this is preparatory before a larger-scale assault, such as attacks on GARDIAN towers, kinetic barrier generators, or computer systems. In other cases the single target is the only goal, such as taking out a comms antenna or sensor cluster. In both cases the scale is typically small – less than thirty assailants and the use of light shuttles with the goal of utilizing traffic as an escape vector.

As all of these mercs must be ready for heavy combat with no backup, they are typically somewhat light on esoteric assets such as infowar specialists. They will also have a limited number of medics, taking those out is key to simply picking the unit apart at leisure.

 _ASSAULT – CAPTURE:_ More rarely, mercenary units will be hired en masse to actively capture and hold a location. This sort of operation is only really feasible outside of Citadel Space – the Traverse, the Terminus, portions of the Silver and Black Rim and the borders of turian/volus space.

Most assaults are on single-settlement colonies, refineries, HE3 fueling stations, outlying outposts, and other single targets. Taking out entire colony planets is beyond the manpower and transport or infrastructure of any mercenary unit except the Blue Suns, Eclipse, or the Six Sins Collective.

Assaults of this nature require mixed teams – infantry, vehicular, info-war, medic and medevac, artillery, and usually air patrol. As such, multiple mercenary units may be mixed together, which makes communications links the critical weakness of such units.

All large-scale assaults of this nature imply that any STG team active would be vastly outnumbered and possibly cut off from retreat. Operative are encouraged to suppress activity and scatter to go native if possible and await covert pickup once the assault has ended.

Given the wide array of required teams for a successful assault, generalizing about the nature of weapons or tactics of such units is a waste of time. Keep in mind that communications is only one weak point, however – the use of traps and delayed explosives can wreak almost as much havoc as infowar sabotage or the poisoning of water supplies.

 _DEFENSIVE – SHORT TERM:_ While 'long term' defense contracts exist, these tend to end up being identical to a garrison contract. Defensive contracts on a short term nature are usually hasty, quick hires done by endangered targets or groups who have at least some lead time before a threat arrives.

The majority of these are done by independent colonies, hiring up mercs on the short term if intelligence from allied groups or government advisories suggest pirate activity is likely. Some are also hired during periods of unrest if the government is unable to suppress rioters. Very few mercenary teams specialize in this sort of task as the pay is typically not commensurate with the reward – as such, many such teams are sponsored by governments to provide at least some level of protection for outlying colonies.

As can be expected, mercs of this specialization tend towards the heaviest armor, shielding and repair systems possible, with a heavy focus on omni-deployed armor elements, medical gear, omni-gel fortification and other 'tricks'. After Force Recon units, defensive units are the second worst matchup for existing STG teams without War Specialist support.

 _INFILTRATION/EXTRACTION, ASSASINATION, and ASSET DENIAL:_ The final class of typical mercenary missions is aggregated into the above – they are basically the same thing with different foci. All of them involve sneaking past enemy lines, and engaging a target – either to steal something (infiltration), extract something (exfiltration), kill someone (assassination) , or blow something up (Asset Denial).

As such, these mercenaries must typically be the pinnacle of such private forces – excellent stealth gear backstopped by tough armor and powerful barriers, excellent medical, infowar, demolitions and scouting abilities, and silenced weapons. Such teams are rare indeed to find outside of professional military forces and for the most part only the Eclipse Mothers (the most elite Eclipse subunit, typically lead by one of Jona Sedris' offspring) and the volus Depthtrod Clannu are equipped to pull it off.

These teams focus very highly on the same aspects the STG does – mobility, flexibility, stealth, disengagement and redirection of threat, and assessment. That being said, they are single-focused on the goal and are expecting conventional opposition – most times these groups run into STG opposition they go down rapidly and hard.

As can be expected, there are no turian groups who follow this model.

* * *

 **Mercenary Companies : Types**

Before exploring specific mercenary companies, it is useful to know exactly what types of mercenary companies exist.

This is not the same as the structure – for example, the Blue Suns is a Corporate Mercenary Entity. So is MCC Security Systems. The difference is that the Blue Suns has offices all over the galaxy, a fleet of more than fifty ships, and a private army numbering in the hundreds of thousands, while the MCC is a thirty-person Salarian counter-infowar unit.

The larger and more powerful a mercenary company is, the more resources, connections, cash, influence and reach it has. Even the garrison troops provided by the Blood Pack are dangerous, while the most elite assault team of a small mercenary company would not even compare to salarian general army forces.

For simplicity, we will use salarian military parlance for group size.

 _FIRETEAM:_ The smallest functional mercenary group is in the fireteam range, usually less than fifteen personnel. These groups tend to be very light in organization – the owner is usually the combat leader as well as the one in charge of finances, communications and accepting contracts. Fireteam size units rarely have support elements – maybe one medic and one infowar specialist, both who usually double as combatants. Conversely, given the small size, fireteam sized units often have their own spaceship or FTL capable pinnace.

 _STRIKE LANCE:_ Strike Lance sized units range from fifteen to fifty personnel. At this size, they can afford a handful of support staff (clerical, medical, etc) and usually have the resources to obtain ground vehicles and specialized gear. Supporting this unit in space becomes more difficult as only frigate / light hauler units have enough space.

 _STRIKE GROUP:_ The first 'serious' level of mercenary company, a strike group is anywhere from fifty to two hundred personnel. Merc units of this size are large enough to not need to focus everything on a specialization, and can invest more into equipment and run multiple contracts at once. Expect dedicated medics, infowar engineers, snipers, and possibly biotics. Almost all groups of this size rely on commercial transport.

 _FIELD LANCE:_ The largest 'common' merc unit size, this ranges from two hundred to five hundred combatants, along with fifty or so devoted support non-combatants. Groups this size need commercial controls, licences, financial tracking and other elements that lead to the need for support, and usually a single HQ location as well. They can usually be expected to run their own training, have dedicated medical buildings, repair shops, and gunship or shuttle assets. A few of the more successful groups have long-term first-right contracts with shipping concerns to move units around.

 _FIELD GROUP:_ Only the 'Big Five' - Eclipse, Blue Suns, Elanus Risk Control, Ura-Clan Militant Security, Katarian Talon Force - fall into this category, which is anything above five hundred military personnel. The smallest of the Big Five, Ura-Clan Militant Security, boasts six thousand vorcha, eight hundred volus ex-VDF, a dozen volus biotics, and dedicated hacking teams numbering in the hundreds. The biggest of the Big Five, the Eclipse, is so large we aren't even sure how big they are, but the current 'founding' under Jona and Jaroth has at least twenty _thousand_ asari combatants, and possibly over sixty thousand total soldiers. This doesn't include medical, infowar, assasination, and infiltration units, or the fact that Jona owns nineteen cruisers and frigates.

Field group sized units are far too powerful to be combated directly without combined STG cell operations, possibly with support from the military or the Transcendental Corps.

* * *

 **Mercenary Foci: A quick overview**

The STG rates mercenary companies based on their strength, their equipment rating and support rating, overall training, and their specialization. Each mercenary unit's combined scores are tallied into a Focus Rating that quickly describes the danger of the unit.

Subfile _**AYT-MERC-001**_ will cover the units in depth, but here are the various focus ratings you will need to understand to make sense of the reports:

 _STRENGTH:_ Mercenary unit strength is comprised of two elements - effective personal count and funding reserves. A large unit with a shoestring budget is less dangerous than a small unit that is lavishly funded. The score is measured on a 5 point scale, with a rating of 1/1 being 'very small, no funding' and 5/5 meaning 'very large field group, effectively limitless funding'.

Each rating point for size can be directly correlated to the above section - for example, 1 is a Fireteam, 3 is a Strike Group, etc. Each point of funding can be estimated at 50% of the funds needed to keep the unit running. So a 1 is a group that is poorly funded and is at 50% capacity, while a 4 is a unit who has double the resources needed to fully equip and/or maintain the unit.

Example: Starshine LTD is a anti-piracy group. They are small strike lance sized private sponsored force working directly for the Asari Armali Starship Group. As such, they would be rated 2 / 5.

 _EQUIPMENT RATING:_ Equipment includes both the ground units armor, weapons and gear as well as support units such as gunships or shuttles. A 5/5-point scale. 1 is basic up-scale civilian gear. 2 is military surplus, 3 is mil-spec gear, 4 is customized weapons and 5 is effectively special forces gear.

The second rating is for support equipment: 1 being no support, 2 being mobile units (mortar, infowar), 3 being medical evac and repair, 4 being biotic support and 5 orbital or air to ground support.

 _TRAINING:_ Another critical aspect of determining if a unit is a threat is training. This is a single five point scale. 1 is militia levels of training. 2 is roughly equivalent to mainline military infantry. 3 is heavy infantry level, 4 is special forces level, and 5 is 'elite'.

Elite levels indicate that the units in question are _more_ than a match for even an augmented STG team. Very few merc units are rated this highly and we keep an eye on each one.

The second rating is how much of the unit demonstrates that level of training. Again, a five point scale, with each point representing roughly twenty percent of the unit.

 _SPECIALIZATION:_ The specialization rating will give you both a quick summary of what they are specialized in as well as a numeric score indicating the level of specialization.

Example: Elanus Risk Control focuses almost entirely on corporate security and anti-data espionage. GIven that they have only very light security forces, they have a 4 out of 5 for their specialization score - meaning they are very good at what they specialize in and bad at everything else.

Tallying the score gives you an overall score which is then matched to a danger scale. Keep in mind these are for the local threat - A Blue Suns small fireteam has a lower score than the main fleet, but their network is very effective and reinforcements can be en route in hours.

A Danger Scale of 1 is 'situationally dangerous' - unless you head directly into the line of fire on their turf in a mission that is their speciality, these mercs are no real threat.

A Danger Scale of 2 is 'operationally dangerous' - weak enough that a single STG team can take them down without casualties, but a high chance of being exposed in doing so.

A Danger Scale of 3 is 'dangerous' and indicates that they are roughly matched in terms of military prowess with a STG team - caution should be utilized.

A Danger Scale of 4 is 'threatening' - unless engaging the mercenaries in direct contact and combat is a requirement of the mission, your cell should retreat and request order updates. A Danger Scale 4 unit can be beaten by an STG team if you are smart, but you will suffer casualties doing so.

The final Danger Scale of 5 has not, to date, required use. If it should it would be entitled 'Lethal' and would result in flee-on-sight or flee-on-sensor-detection of such units. Do not attempt to engage under any circumstances - if pinned, execute protocol nineteen.

Example: Brightstar is an asari mercenary group of outcasts working out of the Volian Traverse. A strike-lance sized unit, they are not officially affiliated with the Volus Depthwalker movement, but have done multiple contracts for them, usually data retrieval missions.

Brightstar's ratings are as follows:

STRENGTH: 2 / 4, deep reserves with an open line of volus credit. Thirty five members.

EQUIPMENT: 3 / 3, military grade (asari) plasma rifles, heavy armor, light unarmed medical shuttles

TRAINING: 4 / 4, heavy training and more than a dozen former commandos, all members are expected to keep up to at least huntress standard.

SPECIALIZATION : INFOWAR, rating 4. Well over 90% of missions are infowar, hacking, or financial records adjustment.

Final Rating: 3.4, Dangerous.

The next set of texts in this guide will cover the more important and interesting military mercenary units and a few of the non-military units.


	6. Sub-file AYT-MERC-001a: the Eclipse

**A/N:** _Literally so bored at work during meetings I wrote this. Editing Gang did not review.  
_

* * *

 _ **Subfile AYT-MERC-001a : ECLIPSE**_

* * *

 _Prepared by Senior Agent Dagama, reporting specialist._

 _Compiled by Master Field Agent Kossi, Executive Agent SOLUTHUS, Senior Agent Soril, Senior Agent Dagama, Master Agent Kolar (retired), and Master Agent Unai (retired)_

 _This is a_ _ **Virshan-Orange**_ _file. Distribution is for senior (non-FCA/non-FAC) agents and specialists only._

* * *

Of all the mercenary companies and groups extant in the greater galactic community today, the oldest, largest, deadliest and most terrifying is the asari group known only as the Eclipse. In the past seven centuries it has gone from a group of wild amateurs to becoming a nearly religious aspect of asari society.

Officially, the Eclipse is only one mercenary group. Unofficially there are at least thirty and possibly upwards of forty 'subchapters', at well over a hundred 'splinter' groups. On paper and to the public media, these groups are independent. In reality, all of them answer to one person.

The Dark Queen Matriarch, Jona Sederis.

While covering the history of mercenary groups may seem like pointless tasking, I have discovered that knowing where something comes from – the forces that lead to its creation and its success, or the factors that determined its courses of action – are more important than dry recitations of strike force numbers, weapons loadouts and financial details. The Eclipse, in particular, is defined and shaped entirely by history – and tied inextricably to the salarian people as well.

* * *

 **The Penumbra Eclipse: Early founding and history**

Just over seven hundred and sixty years ago, the Asari Republic was very strong. While still recovering from the aftermath of the First Refusal War, the Republic's economic power had not been damaged by the savage counterattack of the hanar, and the rise of the power of House T'Armal was completed. They traded away their ancestral city, Armali, to the combined forces of the Houses T'Soni, Vasir, and Devir, and bought up and expanded Serrice.

Matron Thana T'Armal was just ascended to power as Matria, as she was not yet a matriarch and had just elevated her eldest, Aleena, as chatelaine and heir to her throne. Thana was obsessed with power and having just stepped down as Lunarch of the Temple, wanted to influence her future heir to even higher gains in power.

The story of Eclipse begins with that, and with a matron huntress known as Jona. Jona was the offspring of a purebred clan asari mother and a krogan father, with at least one or two ancestors hailing from the Lesser Houses. Unlike many asari she focused on the more militant aspects of being a huntress, actually becoming a bounty hunter and skip-tracer in the service of the Justicar Order for almost a century.

Jona's mother was Sederi of Clan Skywatch, a well-known confidant and advisor to the Thirty on matters scientific and despite her purebred background, well respected even by the Thirty. Sederi rose to the rank of Clan Matriarch early on and encouraged Jona to have an open mind. This resulted in the future Eclipse mistress engaging in far-ranging travels, from training with the STG Transcendental corps and turian biotics to having the honor of training more than a dozen daughters of the Thirty, a concession usually left to Lesser House sword-mistresses.

In any event, Jona was widely praised for not just being a very powerful biotic but a talented and skilled one, as well as a master swordmistress, sniper, and tracker. Thana hired Jona to train skilled youths of the Thirty in combat and self-defense, and Jona operated a school on the outskirts of asari space to do so.

The exact details are unknown and are ultimately irrelevant. What matters is that several years after she opened this school, there was an incident. The Thirty's personal assassin squad, the Black Blades, were sent in to do clean up, and Jona managed to escape, albeit badly wounded.

For several years many thought she had died, but she reappeared in the wild systems of the Terminus. Over the course of some twenty years she began gathering forces into a small mercenary group, and this took off in a bigger way when she linked up with a group of salarian yindo Lythari (what a combination) who were fleeing the Salarian Union.

The first records of the Penumbra Eclipse state that it was 'co-founded' by Jona and the leader of the Lythari, one Vanneth Alshalom. They originally started out as somewhat high-minded for a mercenary group – no doubt due to the influence of the Lythari, but also according to reports, due to Jona.

The Penumbra Eclipse had been in operation for less than seven years when Aria's takeover of Omega happened. The resultant shockwaves sent through the Terminus systems meant a great deal of new business from the warlords and Aria herself, and Jona was apparently liked by the new Queen of Omega. Eclipse picked up dozens of new recruits – out of place asari outcast clanless, failed clan engineers, disgraced commandos.

As the original Lythari contingent began to age and die off, replacements into the ranks slowly hardened the group. However, it was the so-called Battle of the Omega that sank Eclipse's mistress into true madness.

* * *

 **The Battle of the Omega**

It was no secret that the Thirty did not like the idea of Aria holding control of the Terminus Systems. As it turned out, however, Aria was much harder to just kill off than Terena Terminus had been – her security was tight, and the warlords were not going to trust the Citadel on anything. STG teams had little to no success in getting close to her as she only used asari and the occasional krogan as guards, and assassins all failed – including at least one Rembrance Dancer.

A large reason for many of the failures was Eclipse, and by now the group had grown to well over a thousand personnel. Jona was charismatic and (by asari standards) very beautiful, and many disaffected asari maidens joined her groups in search of adventure and exotic alien heroes or 'bad rides'.

(As an aside, while sexual promiscuity is not something offputting, the sheer focus they put on sex over almost every other aspect of life becomes both tiresome and worrisome. This is the danger of yindos, Lythari and sensation-chasers, the asari offer an addictive drug with no escape.)

The asari sent in several small teams of Nightwind to take out both Aria and her strongest supporters – the Warcaptain Uraz, a powerful krogan warlord; Elder Bhailist, another yindo deviant and one of the first cloneleggers that went big; Vanthrix Savakar, a turian outcast and shipwright of no little repute who was thrown from the meritocracy for bonding with an asari - and of course Jona herself.

The results were ugly. The Nightwind utilized chlorine gas bombs, biotoxins, and explosives to wreak confusion and havoc, then consumed members of the patchy emergency services team and blew up key support centers and medical areas. While the station tried to deal with that, multiple bands of Nightwind engaged their targets.

Half of Bray's family and the patriarch himself were brutally slain, while Warcaptain Uraz was butchered by Nightwind on live transmission and his crest torn off his skull. Aria herself lost dozens of her people and was badly wounded, with more Nightwind streaming in through the shattered approaches to her command center.

That is when Jona Sederis arrived, and dispatched a dozen Nightwind single-handedly, laughing madly the entire time. From what we gathered, her current bondmate and both of her children had been raped and murdered by the Nightwind before Jona could respond, and one of them tried to force-bond Jona herself.

It failed, but the combination drove her insane. Her biotics grew even more powerful somehow, as she was able to face down and defeat multiple Nightwind as if they were green maidens, ending the fight with a massive flare-singularity combination that melted everything in the radius to biological goop and flaming embers.

In the aftermath of the battle, Eclipse grew more and more. Less than five years after the fight, the group had doubled its numbers and purchased several midsized cargo liners converted to transports for the mercenary group.

* * *

 **Eclipse Rises**

In the centuries since that day, the Asari Republic has been careful not to directly oppose Eclipse. There are many rumored theories as to why, but none of them seem to fit the facts as we know them.

Eclipse absorbed large numbers of disaffected clanless maidens and, on occasion, clan expatriates. This alone made them a valuable resource, as Eclipse members were unlikely to directly attack the Asari Republic, and this also kept them out of the hands of Aria, or other groups. But the Republic's tolerance for the group went further than that.

As far back as three centuries ago, Eclipse got regular sentry, garrison and protection contracts directly from the Thirty to various asari pilgrimage sites. The Turians employed Eclipse regularly as well to perform 'dishonorable' things in the pursuit of targets of the thasvar or the regular turian military police.

The Salarian Union has never utilized Eclipse, both due to the fact that Jona Sederis is a frothing maniac and also due to the high numbers of yindo followers, Lythari, and disgraced salarians and disavowed STG in the group.

We are not sure what secrets Jona Sederis knows, what dirt she has on the Thirty, or on Aria, or the turians. What we do know is that we have run the finances of her various enterprises and missions and she is bringing in money beyond that which can be accounted for by their work.

* * *

 **Recent Events**

Eclipse was instrumental in dealing with some of the fallout of the Benezia Incident, specifically in retaking the orbital and ground stations of the CDEM on Tuchanka. As a result, given the large loss of life in the military in the aftermath of the Benezia Event, Eclipse was given a charter to operate the CDEM with some Citadel oversight.

Amazingly, Eclipse hasn't done anything illegal (in large scales) during their contract thus far. They do not smuggle drugs or weapons to or from Tuchanka, but rather raw construction materials, eezo, food, medicine, and vehicles.

The fact that Jona herself operates on the surface of Tuchanka and seems to have let the rest of her organization run on its own implies there is something valuable she is focused on obtaining, guarding, or finding. Additional STG units have been deployed to monitor the situation.

* * *

 **ECLIPSE: OVERVIEW**

 **Focus Rating:**

Strength: 5/4 (Very large field group, extensive funding)

Equipment: 4/5 (custom weapons, armor; infowar, medical, biotic and air support)

Training: 3/5 (roughly heavy infantry level, all members).

Be aware, the elite of Eclipse (the Sunfires) count as 5/5

Specialization: BIOTIC ASSAULT, 3.

Threat Rating: 4.8 (Extremely Dangerous)

* * *

Eclipse has, by **far** , the highest threat rating of any mercenary company, of any type, configuration, or ownership. This is due to three factors.

First, Jona Sederis invests most of her money in buying up gear for her people. Even neonates who haven't even met the joining requirements are given lightweight but strong armor and a choice of weapons. Jona's money has allowed several Traverse and Terminus corporations to focus almost solely on producing Eclipse equipment of a very high level.

Second, Eclipse is comprised of chapters. Each chapter is lead by a Mother and conducts their own recruiting. Once they reach a size of a field lance (roughly 500 members) they can split off their own chapters.

Additionally, every so often Jona will take a new lover and 'found' a 'new baseline' chapter of the Eclipse, basically building up a new set of chapters while leaving the old sets in the hands of the Mothers. As a result, Eclipse has a staggering three hundred and seventy chapters, averaging between one hundred and fifty to four hundred members each. Alongside special Eclipse chapters, Jona's own groups, and various auxiliary and support teams, Eclipse boasts well over two hundred thousand combatants, possibly more.

The nature of the chapter construction means that even if Jona is taken down the organization will continue with the oldest Mother simply stepping up.

Finally, Eclipse is powerful and dangerous because of its longevity and contacts. Many merc groups come and go – the average span of time they are stable for depends on the founding race. But even asari groups tend to splinter after two or three centuries.

Jona, on the other hand, has been at this over six hundred years, and has parlayed her group into contracts with dozens of warlords, corporations, independent colonies, and several governments. More importantly, especially in recent decades, Eclipse has been an outlet for troublemaking and discontented asari maidens who would otherwise present a policing and governmental problem for the Asari Republic.

* * *

 **Eclipse: Leadership and organization**

Eclipse is organized along roughly matriarchal-influence lines, like many asari merc companies. At the top is Jona Sederis. Alongside her is the 'co-founder' of the current main chapter, which is usually either a salarian or (rarely) a krogan. Jona is very different in that she has never bonded with anything but salarians and a handful of krogan. As most asari do not pursue salarian lovers (aside from Thessial, but she has good taste) this is unusual and strange.

The 'co-founder' usually has a heavy amount of influence on the direction Jona takes in developing the new main chapter. For example, Jaroth Manno (the current co-founder) has pushed for more infowar and haxtech elements to Eclipse, while his predecessor (Yanta, some yindo deviant) was more interested in performing disaster relief and making money.

The 'main' chapter will usually start off with handpicked selections from other chapters. Most eclipse wear yellow armor with the asari sigil for eclipse in black. The Penumbral chapter wears black armor with the symbol in white, and are the only ones allowed to do so. Eclipse members who have been a part of the Penumbral Eclipse in the past are allowed a black shoulder guard as a visible token.

Below the main chapter is the high chapter – which is the previous main chapter Jona moves away from when she finds a new co-founder and lover. This is usually run by one of her daughters, granddaughters, or great granddaughters, but on occasion talented officers (Relli's Kiss, Seotha Sine, Elevance of Tyrogr, etc.) have been given the command. The high chapter's main job is to provide super-heavy backup to any chapters in trouble, while the main chapter performs high level tasks as directed by Jona herself.

Below the high chapters are the Sun Chapters – all of them former main/high chapters from the past. Some of these have been in operation for more than five hundred years. There are currently seventeen of them, and each one specializes in a different field – direct assault, sniping, biotic defense, air support, assassination, environmental sabotage and more. Sun chapters are led by the Sunfires, the eldest and most dangerous Eclipse sisters.

At least one Sun Chapter (Sirael's Smile) is well known for being popular with younger and likely disenfranchised daughters of the Thirty and goes to extreme lengths to protect their privacy. The Thirty, in turn, have reluctantly tolerated the chapter to actually build bases and training facilities on Thessia, as long as they agree to let the Thirty deny potential applicants if the applicant is too important.

Each Sun chapter sponsors a number (between two and fifteen) Moon chapters, which are filled with junior members, trainees, and neophytes trying to join. These typically follow the specialty of the Sun Chapter who sponsors them and take jobs related to that. Moon chapters are led by Elder Sisters.

There are five 'Star' Chapters. These are strictly limited to pre-neophytes – those who want to join Eclipse. Star Chapters run candidates through simple fitness tests, martial arts practices, shooting practice, biotic testing, skills assessment and seduction assessment. Those who pass must survive patrolling for one month on some dangerous world before being an official neophyte and moved to one of the moon chapters. All Star Chapters are led by one of Jona's granddaughters.

Eclipse is not a corporate entity, but it maintains two headquarters locations – a private asteroid in the Omega System, and an orbital fueling and habitation station in the Traverse. Jona herself operates from the offices of the CDEM on Tuchanka itself, but her representatives can be found in the two locations or at dozens of local Eclipse recruiting offices.

* * *

 **Eclipse: Ranking System**

Most mercenary groups do not tightly define their members, as mercenaries are distressingly disorganized and usually not big on real military discipline. Eclipse is strikingly different; in that it enforces both rate structure and an order of battle on its recruits and members.

Jona, before she lost her mind and became a cackling mega-loon, was both well known for her orderly operations and very highly prized for her training abilities. The latter has survived her insanity intact, the former has been… warped by it.

All Eclipse are divided into two types: sisters and the Joined. The Joined are any and all non-asari members, who have looser restrictions, easier promotion, and no chance for actually leading anything.

Joined have five ranks: Trainee, Soldier, Adjutant, Exemplar, and Captain. The last two ranks are officer ranks, and usually Joined Captains advise Sunfires and Elder Sisters. The Joined themselves are typically only focused into two areas – technical assault (infowar, hacking, omni-engineering) and infiltration (using the race of the soldier to match the target).

Asari are ranked as follows:

Desired, Neophyte, Trainee, Ascendant, Sister – these five ranks make up the initial course of an Eclipse mercenary's career. They are promoted to Neophyte upon completing training, and to Trainee upon passing all the tests of the Moon chapters. They are moved to Ascendant and a Sun Chapter upon making their first kill in combat, and then to Sister upon their second kill or fifth year of service.

A Sister of the Eclipse can then choose one of four directions to apply herself: biotic assault, biotic defense, heavy assault, or seduction and infiltration. These each have the same five ranks – Sister, Moon Sister, High Sister, Elder Sister, and Sunfire.

A Neophyte is paid a base salary of 2000 cr a month, with a 'battle rider' of 500 cr per battle or garrison assignment. They also get paid for kills, up to 100cr per kill in a battle.

Higher ranks add roughly 500cr to 1000cr a month per rank. Most Sunfires, for example, makes roughly 8,000 to 9,000 cr a month. Bonuses also increase in size with rank.

Every Eclipse soldier gets a yearly budget of 12,000 cr to spend on weapons and 15,000cr on armor. All purchases must be done through Eclipse stores, and unused money in the budget goes to a general fund for the chapter that pays for equipment, ammunition, medigel, and the like.

Eclipse's asteroid base has free housing that could accommodate up to seven hundred thousand personnel, although food would be an issue for turians or quarians.

* * *

 **Eclipse: Soldier types**

Eclipse proffers multiple soldier types, but these are the most common:

 _Huntress:_ Most neophytes and newer sisters are placed in this role. They utilize light armor and biotic barriers along with lightweight assault rifles, smoke grenades, and basic biotic attacks. Eclipse tends to use the echelon in heavier fights, and the huntresses fill the role of flanker there, which is safer and less likely to get them killed.

Most huntress type Eclipse units are built for skirmish and raiding, not heavy combat, much like STG teams only far less well trained. They all have comm links to call for both air support and backup from more senior and better armed units but can be panicked by heavy fire.

No special tactics should be necessary to rout even multiple huntress units. As with all asari they deal with fire poorly.

 _Generalist:_ Most Eclipse sisters fall into this role – heavy armor, defensive biotics, and usually a shotgun and grenades or a heavy machine gun and high explosives. These asari use their biotics to buttress their already impressive defenses while they laydown either extreme firepower or rush enemy lines and assault at close range.

Generalists weakness is that they are designed for the attack – while durable armor and biotic barriers are hard to bring down, once their defense is breached they are usually not in good defensive positions. Proper use of grenades to manage movement and Rapier x-ray laser shotguns is recommended.

Other than that, the basic generalist is a well-rounded mercenary, with none of the obvious weaknesses of most mercenary line troops. Caution is advised.

 _Guardian:_ A more defensively focused sister, the guardians have the same heavy armor but heavier barriers and utilize omni-shields and omni-barriers liberally. Deployed for garrison duty mostly, they are armed with both long-range assault rifles as well as shield-ripping submachine guns and shotguns.

Guardians are usually not dangerous, as they are rarely as alert as they should be. However, they can be very difficult in a fight as they mitigate a huge amount of damage and are trained heavily in holding a line. Evasion is better than fighting.

If forced to engage, the best counter is to make defense impossible. Use explosives to disrupt choke points, liberally use smoke grenades for mobile cover and engage omni-drones to drop gamma grenades to irradiate their defense points. Utilize Mobile Defense Protocols Seven through Nine to deny them a chance to setup – harassment, infowar attacks, whatever is required.

 _Specialist:_ seen in both Eclipse Sisters and the Joined, specialists are assigned a specific role – sniper, medic, hacker, infowar engineer, support, etc. – and do not stray from it. They wear much lighter armor that is a haze gray with a black panel down the front, with the Eclipse sigil in yellow on the panel, and are typically deployed with an existing squad. Specialists are rarely expected to fight directly (with the exception of the Sniper, and even then he or she is more for traditional one-shot one-kill assassination) and are likely to be heavily guarded.

They are also targets of opportunity that will derail the entire mission if you can take them out, so when looking at specialist Eclipse assaults this is the first person you should figure out how to kill.

They can use almost any weapon you can think of, and at least some of them have already managed to crack the DRM on certain turian weapons.

 _Duelist:_ Probably the most dangerous of the roles, the dualist is a specialist combatant specifically designed to take down enemy command structures. Most of the Eclipse dualists are failed war priestesses, the rest are still very strong in biotics. Duelists use biotic attacks and defenses along with warp swords, poison grenades, and sniper rifles to hit their targets in a bewildering array of attack types.

Duelists are best handled by war specialist attacks, but as usual the liberal use of gas, explosives, and possibly radiological grenades will render them harmless.

 _Commando:_ Utilized and trained almost identically to Asari Republic commandos, the Eclipse version is similar to the huntress – light armor (although usually heavily augmented with omni-armor and kinetic barriers), light weapons (more DMR and light sniper than assault, however), and a focus on biotic attack and defense in lieu of heavy weapons.

The difference is that these are elites, trained for decades or more and extremely accurate. They will use stealth tactics and hit-and-fade attacks, draw out units for flanking assaults from other Eclipse units, use biotic detonations as well as poison gas, snap-flak traps, and all manner of info-war to jam, confuse and harass the enemy, and will fade back into the lines if pressed.

While some Eclipse units are definitely a challenge for an STG team to engage, an Eclipse Commando unit is really on par with most nations' special forces. They have matched against and triumphed against human N-series marines, turian Blackwatch, and even on occasion STG Silent Step – they are far more than a match for a stock STG team without heavy War Spec support.

On the other hand, they are not invincible, and if they are caught by surprise or flanked are not that much tougher than a huntress unit. Worse, since they are often very close to one another and/or sexually involved, multiple unit deaths will shatter their morale quickly.

 _Rapturous:_ By far the most disturbing unit in the Eclipse ranks, the Rapturous are Jona's personal guard. Extremely heavy armor, but usually cut and fashioned to be revealing and sexually lewd, this is augmented by extremely strong biotics as well as conventional barriers. They use light rifles, warp swords, eezo whips (this is not a typo) and both black nano toxins as well as conventional poisons.

Each one of these asari is a murderess and assassin a dozen times over, and most of them are nearly as crazy as their leader. The bulk of them are blown on a constant stream of red sand, resulting in many having respiration masks and/or cybernetic lung augmentation as a requirement. Illegal combat drugs and various batarian symbionts are also common.

There is no hard counter for this kind of lunatic aside from a handy high explosive trap.

* * *

 **Eclipse: Typical contracts and operations**

Eclipse is a violent and near criminal group in many chapters, while others are entirely above board. Given the structure of the group and the loose control Jona Sederis maintains, it is a well-known fiction that any chapter or subgroup that draws Citadel or law enforcement sanction is 'operating without approval from the Queen Matriarch'.

Thus far, given Jona has no problems letting her own people be arrested or executed by Justicars, this excuse is allowed to hold. As such, unlike the Blue Suns or other large mercenary companies who must pick and choose jobs carefully, Eclipse handles a wide array of disreputable and illegal jobs.

The three most common Eclipse jobs are garrison duty, police augmentation, and raid assault.

Eclipse has tens of thousands of asari, who are probably the best at garrison tasks after turians. Eclipse garrison units are more affordable as the mercenary company pays for transport and offsets the cost of room, meals, and provides their own medical and comms needs. Especially for small corporate asari enclaves or 'free' Terminus colonies, you can get several strike-group sized Eclipse companies for the same cost as a single Blue Suns strike lance. Most of the garrison work is done by the star and moon chapters, where you have young maiden asari and not hardened fighters and criminals.

Likewise, asari are perfect for police augmentation – they are by nature de-escalatory, and biotics are excellent at non-lethal crowd control. Usually units that are somewhat more hardened are used for this task, as occasionally riots get violent and Eclipse is happy to put an end to them.

The turians use Eclipse forces as augments for their thasvar and hastatim vigilante groups, as almost all other mercenary companies shy away from the dubious legality of such things. Eclipse, on the other hand, is more than happy to send hardened killers to help and even advertises their skill at assisting with the barbaric corpse defilation such hunts tend to end in.

But Eclipse is the most famous for their terrifying raid assault attacks, where thousands of asari with biotics surge forward while all manner of info-war and cyberattacks are conducted by the auxiliaries. Eclipse uses a specialized form of the Echelon called the Chevron, which somehow manages to interlink and combine the barriers of multiple asari into a single, powerful shielding effect.

STG units have seen groups of several hundred asari create mobile biotic barriers that rival or even exceed the power of a war priestess and can stand off even rapid-fire ground saturation missile barrages. Once asari get beyond your front lines, the combination of flash step, grenades, heavy automatic plasma fire, and biotic disruption is almost impossible to rally from.

Eclipse also dabbles in eezo shipping, as well as providing most of the security for much of Aria's larger empire. Eclipse is known to be heavily involved in the production of red sand and STG operatives believe at least fifty percent of captured asari sold by slavers end up in the hands of Eclipse, who recruits a handful and uses the rest in the production of red sand, various asari sex drugs, and sex slaves.

Eclipse is _very_ careful about keeping all of its illegalities deep inside the Terminus, with the most dangerous stuff basically being done in Omega System itself, far beyond the reach of any law enforcement figure.


	7. Sub-file AYT-MERC-001b: the Blue Suns

**A/N:** _HALP MY BRAIN IS LEAKING OUT OF MY EARS I AM TRAPPED IN AGILE SIX SIGMA AND ISO20k: LEADING YOUR TEAM INTO THE FUTURE AND THERE IS A SEVENTY FOUR FUCKING SLIDE POWERPOINT *foams at mouth*_

 _Also, the Editing Gang did not review. Any mistakes are thus, clearly, their fault.  
_

* * *

 _STG Field Manual_

 ** _Subfile AYT-MERC-001 B : Alien Interactions, Mercenary and Private Security Forces : Blue Suns Security Group_**

* * *

 _Prepared by Senior Agent Dagama, reporting specialist._

 _Compiled by Master Field Agent Kossi, Executive Agent SOLUTHUS, Senior Agent Soril, Senior Agent Dagama, Master Agent Kolar (retired), and Master Agent Unai (retired)_

 _This is a **Virshan-Orange** file. Distribution is for senior (non-FCA/non-FAC) agents and specialists only._

The Blue Suns are an unusual military unit, stemming from the fact that they have grown in strength from a rag-tag band of light infantry headed by terrifying leaders to a galaxy spanning concern with alarming criminal links alongside significant financial assets and government contracts.

The Blue Suns are not the extant threat that Eclipse poses… but neither are they as well controlled. Eclipse has been around longer than any other mercenary group and is basically a tradition at this point, and both C-SEC and local police forces know exactly how to deal with them. More importantly, Eclipse has always bowed and obeyed orders from the Justicars.

The Blue Suns, on the other hand, were fragmented and quarrelsome from the start and have not become more reasonable with time. Their leadership was noted for its ferocity and tactical skill, not their even-minded approaches or pursuit of ethical contracts. The recent mess at Omega having killed off half of the remaining leadership may or may not improve events, but it is more likely that the Terminus side of the operation may go rogue.

* * *

 **Founding and history**

The Blue Suns group was founded just over twenty-two years ago by the combination of five well known independent mercenaries.

The basic idea was the brainchild of Zaeed Massani, the so-called "Hellfire" and (at the time) the only Z2 convicted criminal felon freed from the Penal Legions. His idea was simple – to make a truly multifunctional military mercenary company not beholden to specific governments (like Elanus or the Ura-clan) nor reliant on a specific race for the bulk of their contracts and personnel (like Eclipse or Katarian). He also disliked how the bigger merc companies inevitably got caught up in below-legal swamps of activity and then lost major contracts.

For most, staring a company from scratch would be daunting, but Massani was already widely known and feared, and had spent five years doing private work that had netted him millions of credits. Additionally, Massani had some sort of blackmail on the High Lords and odd connections to their assassin, the also dangerous Tyrion no Kage . While all of this sounds like he would have been inclined to build his mercenary group in human space, there was an unexplained and sudden declaration that he and his friends were wanted by the Commissariat.

Unusually, the charges against them were sealed and not announced, although rumors flew around the extranet then (and now). For whatever reason, he and two associates of his fled human space to setup shop in the Terminus systems.

His friends – Vido Santiago, a fallen noble from the Lords of Sol's House Espinoza, convicted of defrauding the Systems Alliance, and Darner Vosque, a well known assassin and also purveyor of drugs and prostitutes to well-heeled class IV human clients – joined their fortunes to his, giving him the money to create his own force of mercenary soldiers.

As with many such groups, they went to the Terminus world of Cross-Trade, where many existing mercenary groups set up HQ and where young turian outcasts, asari maidens, disgruntled humans and exiled batarians all congregated. From Cross-Trade they did a few months' work of independent work, building up contacts and learning the lay of the land before beginning the actual process of building out a mercenary force.

The three spent several weeks gathering recruits, and in meeting with existing merc groups in search of work. In the course of this, Zaeed encountered three other future warlords trying to do the same thing.

One, High Caste exile, H'vaka Solem, had his own backer, another outcast named Tarek, and the two of them had already put together several hundred batarian recruits. Another, Kuril of Meshar, was an ex-Deathwatch trainer and had turned his back on the Hierarchy for their lack of response to slave raids. His ideas were interesting but had no real backing in terms of cash. Finally, a second turian, Berinis Varok, was yet another outcast – this time for operating illegal infowar hacking rings inside volus banking systems.

Legend has it they all met in a bar and had an extended bragging, gambling and drinking engagement that lead to them pooling their resources. The truth is probably more prosaic, especially given Solem's typical disdain for anything 'lesser'. However it happened, though, the money of Vosque, Massani and Santiago coupled with the funding and contacts of Tarek and Varok was enough to allow them to put together a very interesting unit.

* * *

 **Establishment of the Blue Suns**

The Suns early success was due to the fact that the mercenary group was not like most groups. Blue Suns organized themselves into Legions, each of which had different focus points and was commanded by one of the leaders. The group offered multiple specializations, training for new recruits, and a rank system that depended only on how skilled and talented you were, not connections, species, or wealth.

Vido Santiago was the overall CEO and Chairman, but while he controlled the finances did not have any insight or say into the operations. Kuril, Tarek, Solem, and Vosque each took control of strike group level units to specialize in, while the bulk of the newer soldiers and vets were gathered together in a field lance under Massani himself. Varok took a position under Solem.

At its outset, the Blue Suns offered infowar, assault, capture and incarceration, garrison and a few other tasks, and operated in different areas of the galaxy. Vosque's polish and familiarity with the Citadel had him take over the completely above-board garrison protection units, which he staffed heavily with asari maidens and human veterans. Tarek, an ex-SIU groundpounder, used mostly batarians to conduct straightforward light assault teams. Solem disdained using his own kind and put together mixed forces of turian snipers and salarian tech savants with limited amounts of krogan heavy infantry for their infowar contracts, unique in the heavy firepower they had.

Kuril worked on the capture and incarceration teams, while Zaeed mostly trained and then led small picked teams of veterans and elites on heavy raids and assassination missions that grew into some of the most crazed and talked about mercenary fights in history.

For almost a decade, the Blue Suns grew faster than any other mercenary group, taking on impossible contracts such as the Gravalax Assault, the Indormen Defense, and even taking part in the Suppression of Valzx when the turians revolted against the Primarch there. They tripled in size every year until they were large enough to be listed on the VolMark 450 and obtained a prized spot in the Vol Court of Corporations and even a C-SEC deputization license.

* * *

 **Splintering**

Despite their success, there was a great deal of tension. The leadership was at cross purposes – Vido, along with some others, wanted to use their Terminus location to branch out into more illegal opportunities for making money, while Zaeed and Kuril resisted this. There was less cooperation between the units, especially Vosque's units, as he could not afford even the slightest perception of criminal activity when he was less than five hundred meters from C-SEC HQ and was wanted by the Commissariat.

For some time this tension was minor, but as the Blue Suns lost market share to more rapacious groups and was avoided by some due to being seen as 'too legal', Vido decided more extreme action was necessary.

The details remain murky, but at some point Zaeed's legion was caught in what appeared to be an ambush and mostly cut to pieces. Massani barely escaped, and upon returning to the Blue Suns HQ, was attacked and believed to be killed by Vido Santiago.

This was presented as Zaeed 'retiring' to the rest of the Blue Suns, with the truth coming out only a few years later, when Zaeed reappeared and attempted to kill Vido.

The Suns have remained a competent and powerful group, but without the training Zaeed put new members through it is often noted veterans are far more skilled than any recent recruits in the past decade. Still, the Suns were seen as a top-tier mercenary group for many years. The fallout from the event also ended up turning most of the Legatus against Santiago, with only Solem really tolerating him. Vosque found his crudity distasteful, Kuril and Varok saw him as a betrayer, and Tarek saw him as a coward.

* * *

 **Recent Events**

Until very recently, the Blue Suns had mostly recovered from the splintering, with more contracts and a deepening of their less than legal operations being muted to some degree by the reputation of Warden Kuril and Vosque. However, their overall growth slowed, training was not quite as effective, and when Zaeed Massani turned out not to be actually dead several thousand Blue Suns mercs turned in their gear and left to join up with their old boss, eventually forming the mercenary company Firestorm.

Firestorm competed heavily with the Blue Suns groups, often taking contracts against their interests in the Terminus while generally avoiding Vosque and Kuril. This forced more and more of Tarek's operations into Omega itself, where he became entangled in the conspiracy of some of Aria's warlords to overthrow her.

This culminated in the messes that exploded later: the Burning of Omega and the Archangel's Ascent incidents. Both resulted in staggering losses to the unit as a whole, lowering the public perception of the group. It also cost the assault chapter over sixty percent of their personnel and the deaths of both Tarek and Solem. This also cost the Omega chapter the vast majority of their seasoned veterans.

With Vido literally hiding out with Darner Vosque on the Citadel to avoid Zaeed's wrath, this puts command of the Blue Suns mostly in the hands of Warden Kuril. Vosque has repeatedly stated he cannot effectively hope to manage the Terminus elements from the Citadel, while Kuril's reputation allows him the benefit of the doubt as he attempts to reorganize the group and find new leaders.

While Vido in theory controls the bulk of the company's financial resources, this continues only as long as he keeps breathing – if he dies, Vosque and Kuril would each receive half control. So far, Vido has done whatever is requested of him by Vosque, who is working closely with Kuril and is opposed to elevating anyone else to the board.

While much of the Blue Sun force in Omega was destroyed in the Archangel's Ascent, the remaining legions under a temporary CO have agreed to follow Kuril's direction for the moment. Given that neither Tarek nor Solem's chosen successors survived, how long the Omega legions of the Blue Suns will follow Kuril is unknown. Most certainly, the less than legal aspects of Blue Sun operations have already been temporarily shuttered or in some cases sold off.

In the meantime, the temporary Legion command has authorized the various legions to continue dedicated operations, with all units now drawing from a combined finance fund and warehousing system on Denes IX, in the Lacharta system.

* * *

 **BLUE SUNS: OVERVIEW**

 **Focus Rating:**

Strength: 5/4 (field group, considerable funding)

Equipment: 3/4 (mil-spec weapons and armor; good infowar, excellent combat engineering, moderate air support)

Training: 2/4 (roughly standard infantry level, most members).

Specialization: INFOWAR 2, and DEFENSIVE, 3

Threat Rating: 3.7 (Dangerous)

* * *

The Blue Suns doctrines are a curious mix of human Marine, batarian SIU and turian militia training, with scattered focus on mechs, infowar, and combat engineering. Unlike most mercenary groups, the Blue Suns prefers large scale operations, facilitated by their network of large cargo haulers converted to assault transports.

This is, however, not a universal aspect, as most of their special teams operate in smaller units utilizing public transport or private frigates for insertion.

There is not a good 'template' for countering Blue Suns units because, like STG teams, they do not purpose build teams to do one thing but to react to a wide array of potential issues and opportunities. As such, you will need to be reactive and conduct significant levels of recon before opposing Blue Suns units, or you will possibly be caught off guard by unexpected skillsets.

The Blue Suns are not the best equipped (that falls to Eclipse) or the best trained (Elanus Risk Control) or even the most numerous (Blood Pack). They are still very large, estimated to be in the range of well over thirty to forty thousand personnel. They are well funded, with mil-spec weapons and top of the line combat engineering gear, and decently trained.

What makes them more dangerous than most other mercenary companies is that the Blue Suns focus on combat multipliers and force leverage. Their heavy use of mechs, drones, and omni-armor as support forces means that even only lightly trained recruits have much higher success, survival and escape rates than even elite veterans of other mercenary companies.

Furthermore, the Blue Suns are, at least among the Big Five, the corporation with the most penetration into both illegal and legal venues. Their operations on Omega have taken a hit and neither Vosque nor Kuril is likely to want to continue them, but the fact remains that the Blue Suns are the only mercenary company that is welcomed in both Council and Terminus space with no reservations from any spacefaring race – even the Hanar have at times hired Blue Suns security teams to provide overwatch of trade ships they send to Omega.

The Blue Suns still follow the training regimes and plans of Zaeed Massani, and as such maintain maximum flexibility. They do not force-focus in any one direction and have in recent years built out small units to handle financial interdiction, kidnap recovery, even a few psyop teams. They pride themselves on being military and disciplined – note that during the Archangel's ascent, while Eclipse splintered and the Blood Pack fled the Blue Suns held their positions even after enduring ruinous levels of casualties. And this after Massani has been gone for a long period of time – even if it isn't as effective as it used to be, the regime he came up with works.

The high percentage of turians and high-caste batarian exiles, not to mention insane humans, means the batarian arrogance is now married with turian refusal to retreat and human kamikaze lunacy and has mutated into something very ugly indeed. Blue Suns units almost never retreat willingly and have in more than one instance broken into outright suicide charges, usually punctuated by broken Japanese, batarian jeering or screams of turian fury.

* * *

 **Blue Suns: Leadership and organization**

The Blue Suns are technically a Corporate Mercenary Entity – the Blue Suns Military corporation. Formally incorporated in the Corporate Court of Vol Prime, its headquarters was set up on a privately-owned colony just inside Aria's domain called Vastis. A failing agri-combine sold it to Vido for a song, and the bulk of the planet now sports light industrial plants, a ship foundry, and several small company towns organized around training camps, hospitals, and office complexes. (As an aside, they also grow their own foodstock, with both levo and dextro facilities to do so. The Blue Suns, as a result, have the best food plans and meals among most merc companies).

Each of the legions of the Blue Suns have separate HQ elements – Solem and Vido operated mostly from Vastis, Tarek had offices on Omega itself, Kuril operates from his space station, and Darner Vosque has offices in the Presidium near the Asari Embassy. Subsidiary units operate on Thalaton, Korlus, Bekenstein (financial recovery services only), and Tuchanka.

The leadership is the Board of Operations, which is similar to a board in most corporations. There is a CEO (called the Tribune), a CIO, and a Legal Officer, then multiple Legion chiefs, known as Legatus. The CEO and CIO do not have any say in the military or production aspects of the various chapters and the Legal Officer only gets involved if the company is prosecuted in the Corporate Court.

Each Legatus usually has a dedicated second in command who is to take over if the are incapacitated or killed. Vosque and Kuril both have their asari wives as their second in command, while Tarek had a human female ex-N5 and Solem had Varok. The human female was confirmed killed at Omega, while Varok's body was not found - but he has not come forward.

Below the high command, legions operate on a simple downward officer/sergeant/trooper scale.

There are technically five legions, but the Fifth (Victus) was never reactivated after Zaeed's death and is only a training cohort designation.

 _Digital Legion Xipus_ (Infowar / Engineering) currently headed by Senior Centurion Dathak Vu'kahara on Vastis (Temporary)

 _Assault Legion Crenous_ (Defense / Assault), currently headed by Senior Centurion Brent Raley on Omega (Temporary)

 _Police Legion Vakar_ (Incarceration), headed by Legatus Kuril on the Purgatory Space Station

 _Defense Legion Seraphis_ (Garrison / Assassination), headed by Legatus Vosque at the Citadel Offices

Each Legion is separated into four Cohorts and a Command Cohort. Cohorts specialize in an aspect of the overall direction of the Legion – for example, Vosque's unit has an entire cohort of asari given over specifically to garrison duty in asari space, while another cohort handles human garrison jobs.

Each cohort is lead by a Centurion or Senior Centurion, while Command Cohorts are led by the Legatus. Cohorts themselves are divided into a trio of Centuries (commanded by Centurions), which in turn are split into four conturbernium (the roman language version of a 'tent group') lead by a Primus.

* * *

 **Blue Suns: Ranking System**

Most mercenary groups do not tightly define their members, as mercenaries are distressingly disorganized and usually not big on real military discipline. The Blue Suns, as basically a group molded on actual military, defies this. They have a rigid rank structure, complete with specialty ratings and combat clearances, as well as chains of command and fallback commanders.

The Blue Suns have a tendency in ranking to rely more on training results than what is actually shown in battle. This is entirely due to Massani's influence, who felt that many 'battlefield accolades' were "complete bullshit", especially when such adeptness could not be demonstrated on the training field. As such, field awards of rank are almost unheard of unless witnessed by many Blue Suns officers.

The ranks of the Blue Suns are loosely based on old Earth cultures, specifically an iron-age culture known as Roman. Humans have a long-standing adoration of this culture (with no real tech they conquered at least a fifth of the world, which is somewhat impressive given human fractiousness) and the feel of the ranks is something both batarians and turians are accustomed to.

Blue Suns ranks are suffixed with an operations code and a combat clearance. The former is a code defining what kind of soldier the merc is, the latter is how skilled and trained they are. This is used along with the system Blue Suns used to rank jobs on – a job ranked for veterans would only be allowed to tap soldiers with a veteran combat clearance.

As an example, a trainee with all of his testing completed would have a rank that looked like this: Tertius (RK/INF). A skilled Optio with backgrounds in multiple fields would have a rank like this: Optio (EL/CMBTENG/INF/RCN)

The ranks are as follows:

 _Tertius_ : The Tertius is the basic rookie trainee, much like the salarian dragoon. All tertius rank mercenaries expend most of their time in training, drill, and low-risk garrison duty jobs. Unlike many other units, tertius members only advance when they have completed a 'qualification card' of tasks, including shooting accuracy, basic first aid, basic infowar, land navigation and survival. This is one reason why even low-ranked Blue Suns mercs are typically far more capable than some professional military forces.

 _Secundus_ : Once the complete trials are done and they are tested, they are promoted to Secundus, which is roughly a Spearman in salarian terms. Secundus comprise a large portion of Blue Suns forces, as promotion requires the development of leadership skills. Even so, Secundus receive 'efficiency raises' every year, and promotion is not a requirement – some Secundus are twenty-year veterans making as much as senior officers. The Secundus is expected to be proficient in at least three fields and at leadership as defined by training courses any Secundus can take. Secundus who show particular valor are instead made into Signifiers.

 _Primus_ : A Secundus who completes a leadership course with a passing grade and demonstrates three field skills is promoted to Primus, roughly the same as a Shieldbearer. Primus command at a squad or lance level groups of Secundus or Primus. Primus mercenaries are expected to either take a senior NCO position or apply for Centurion training, but many simply ignore those and continue in rank. The Primus is the most dangerous low-ranking merc you will find, as some of them have been at this for more than thirty years.

 _Signifier_ (Standard Bearer): Each cohort has a Standard, a technological banner incorporating a host of features along with a synthweave flag representing the cohort. The Standard acts as an ECM jammer and comms system booster, a beacon for pickup or close-danger bombardment, and can generate several hard kinetic barriers. It is carried by the biggest, strongest, and most brave and valorous of Blue Suns troopers, who wear special armor to support it on the back and carry heavy weapons. The Signifiers are thus moving rally points, and many of them are trained in providing encouragement and to rally the troops. If you must take out a cohort, target the Signifier first – the loss of the Standard will not only cripple their comms and defense but is seen as a bad omen.

 _Optio_ : The Optio is like a Senior or Master Spearman, as a senior non-commissioned officer. Optios usually advise the Centurion of a Cohort. Optio's are those who declined becoming Centurions, and as such do not have to worry about testing or advancement. Some of them are very old and skilled, and most of their duties involve training and organization, not direct combat – that doesn't mean they've lost any skill at such.

 _Centurion_ : the Blue suns have a very abbreviated officer class. Part of this was due to the disdain that Massani, Solem and Vosque had towards officers (be that high-caste lords or noble 'lieutenants'), but some of it was due to the fact that the Suns were being trained to fight well even without direct leadership. As such, the Centurion is more skilled at combat and charismatic leadership than tactical or strategic planning. Centurions complete several training courses while they lead a Cohort, and it is a rare merc who has the skills and raw intellect to even qualify as a Centurion, so they are well protected.

 _Senior Centurion_ : After ten years of service without flaws, a Centurion is promoted to Senior Centurion. The difference is simple: Only Senior Centurions, Legatus and Tribunes have the ability to purchase or own Blue Suns operating stock. Senior Centurions are the natural picks to replace Legatus who die or retire. Most are very wealthy by the time they reach this rank, and you can expect highly customized armor and weapons systems.

 _Legatus_ : The Legatus lead the chapters of the Blue Suns. Of the five that started out, two are now dead and one (Massani) has been forced out, leaving only Kuril of Meshar and Donner Vosque. Both of these men are elite veterans (N7 and Deathwatch, specifically) with decades of combat experience and all kind of connections. The various Legatus usually hold some kind of rank in the corporation itself – Kuril is technically the Chief Technology Officer, and Vosque is the Chief Operations Officer.

 _Tribune_ : The Tribune is mostly a ceremonial position, similar to a CEO. Tribunes have no military command and are strictly a paper position, so far held by Vido Santiago.

Blue Suns have a four-tier combat clearance rank: **Trainee** , **Rookie** , **Veteran** , and **Elite**. This limits how dangerous a mission the merc is qualified for. Each rank is increased by taking aptitude and qualification exams, and moving into a new clearance rank gives more pay. Roughly estimated, the ranks match up fairly well to conventional militaries – trainees are just that, rookies are akin to green garrison troops, vets are roughly on part with mainline military forces, and elites are usually as good as dedicated heavy infantry.

The Blue Suns pay fairly well, more with seniority and qualification. They also offer comprehensive benefits programs – cyberware and bionetic augmentation, gene therapy, payment to move family members, professional education and tuition reimbursement, and paid retirement. The Blue Suns are infamous for taking assaults on legionnaire families or retirees as a deadly insult and will always respond to such with overwhelming ferocity.

A Tertius is paid a base salary of 1200 cr a month, but also gets 2% of the value of all complete contracts for their Cohort. This increases by 1000cr a month and 1% per rank achieved. Officers also get a small percentage of loot, bonus money or battle riders from the client, while Senior Centurions get stock options.

Every Blue Suns soldier gets a budget of 10,000 cr to spend on weapons and 10,000cr on armor every three years. Most purchases must be done through the Blue Suns stores and armories, but unspent money can be expended on whatever the mercenary wants as long as his gear is satisfactory. Most spend it on armor and weapons mods.

The Blue Suns pay a small stipend to allow members to afford housing (larger if married and at least Secundus rank), but also offer free housing on Vastis. Retirees are entitled to free land on Vastis, many going into farming as a result.

* * *

 **Blue Suns: Soldier types**

The Blue Suns define their soldiers by a rate system, which can be combined with other rates. The rates are as follows: Technical, Infantry, Defensive Systems, Artillery, Vehicular, Medical, Recon, Combat Engineer, Sniper and Auxiliary.

As such, the Blue Suns do not have dedicated 'infantry', but an intermixture of qualified soldiers who can do more than one thing. This makes them flexible and dangerous and also means a standard STG team does not and cannot expect any Blue Suns team to be without defenses against most STG tactics.

Most mercs will have a Prime Specialization, and then two to four secondaries. Keep this in mind.

The 'auxiliary' rate covers skills that are not in one of the specializations and are usually restricted to non-combatant units such as clerks, navigators, cooks, etc.

The Rates are defined below:

 _Technical:_ Technical rates cover anything not directly related to combat engineering, and vehicles. Weapons repair, comm systems, and infowar are all covered under this rate, as well as general technical skills (plumbing, repair, electronics, optronics, etc).

The Blue Suns fields two common combinations: Engineers usually combine this with Combat Engineer and Vehicular, while the Saboteur combines this with Sniper and Recon.

 _Infantry:_ Infantry covers a wide array of skills – basic pistol, rifle, submachine gun and heavy weapons usage, land navigation, basic first aid, and combat movement. Infantry basically teaches how to fight in conventional warfare arenas, with an offensive focus.

The Blue Suns have two common combinations for this rate: Combat Medic combines this with Medical and Recon, while Motorized Infantry combines this with Vehicular and Artillery.

 _Defensive Systems:_ Defensive systems covers heavy armor, kinetic barrier setup, field fortification, omni-armor creation, defensive tactics, and counter-ambush training. Most of the mercs in this rate are larger and stronger, to handle heavier armor systems.

The common Blue Suns combo for Heavy Armor is usually Combat Engineer, which they define as a Bastion Engineer.

 _Artillery:_ The Blue Suns are rather unusual in that they have dedicated hover-vehicle crew served artillery, both in railgun (35mm saboting chevron) and accelerator (7mm explosive APP cannon) varieties.

Artillery rates thus have to know how to operate, repair and move these weapons as well as basic physics, math, land navigation and map-reading, field fortifications and meteorology.

Motorized Infantry melds this with Infantry and Vehicular, to have units that can deploy and fight from moving artillery vehicles.

 _Vehicular:_ Basically, pilots and techs, this covers both ground vehicles (APC, hover-artillery, and light grav bikes) as well as aerospace assets (light human fighters, gunships, space superiority fighters and system patrol boats.)

 _Medical:_ The medical rate covers all forms of basic biology, anatomy, physiology, omni-gel and medigel usage, regeneration field understanding, hematology, field aid, cybernetics and in some cases drug creation and chemistry. Blue Suns medics are hands down the very best in the galaxy in field evac and trauma treatment outside of a dedicated hospital.

 _Recon:_ This is a rarer rate, covering stealth, approach tactics, sensor technology, the use of drones to gather information, land navigation and cultural approach. Pure recon specialists are rare, most are combined with sniper or technical rates.

 _Combat Engineer:_ The combat engineer focuses on defense and attack: drone bombardments, kinetic barriers, field combat engineering, omni-engineering, demolitions and explosives, and some infowar aspects. Engineer training has more direct combat aspects than technical, and is often combined with other rates to serve a field experts.

 _Sniper:_ the Blue Suns do not have many snipers, and mostly field them as recon units to take out targets of opportunity. The training they go through is somewhat limited as a result: target identification, sensor reporting, stealth, basic mathematics, and the operation of designated marksman rifles, sniper rifles, anti-mech and anti-material rifles, and pistol marksmanship.

* * *

 **Blue Suns: Typical contracts and operations**

The Blue Suns have a wide selection of operations, so many that summing it up is a daunting task. They conduct assaults and break up kidnapper groups, incarcerate criminals and haul illegal drugs, participate in brutal raids and operate in ceremonial armor on the Presidium itself.

That being said, roughly sixty percent of the Blue Suns revenues stems from the same three contract types: Garrison, Data Security, and Assault-Capture.

The Blue Suns Digital Legion, Xipus, has the distinction of being the single most dangerous group in the entire galaxy when it has come to penetration, hacking, and infowar. They penetrated STG systems many times and even the League of Zero has had issues fending them off. Most Blue Suns Data Security contracts are therefore from large corporations hiring them to keep them safe, as it is well known the Blue Suns will never take contracts that require it to go against other chapters.

Data Security also includes teams who will go in and upgrade security for a space, do deep data forensics, or even programming upgrades. It is somewhat surreal to see burly turians in heavy armor and festooned with guns and explosives sitting in plush office spaces rewriting code, but they have a 97.5% success rate…

Blue Suns also does a LOT of garrison work, mostly in Citadel Space, where their professionalism and disciplined conduct are more acceptable than most mercenary units. Many corporate colonies rely entirely on Blue Suns protection, and Blue Suns units being attacked can call for heavy reinforcement – something that most merc units, not having their own ships, cannot provide.

The amount of assault work the Blue Suns does is difficult to pin down, as most of it is due to squabbles in the Traverse and Terminus systems, but also because these jobs are sometimes just cover stories for Blue Suns drug, slaving, or other illegal ops. The details of this always remain murky to outside observers since the Blue Suns utilize secured volus banks.


End file.
